A Double Estate Sale Friday

Yesterday morning, Duane, Linda and I set out for two estate sales that were taking place near where Duane lives.  We hadn't been to estate sales for a few weeks but had been doing other things together instead.  (Plus all of the better sales seem to be taking place out of town.)  The one closest to Duane had a ton of books.  We realized we had been to a yard sale at this house before but that's when the family was still living there.  This time, they were moving, so they employed an estate sale company to sell off everything they didn't take with them.  All three of us founds books and Duane also bought a small piece of Delft for her collection -- a small house like the ones she saw when she visited The Netherlands.

The second sale was actually an antiques dealer who purchases from estate sales and needed to move some of his inventory.  He had everything placed nicely in a building that he owns and opened it to the public for a two day sale.  Lots of beautiful furniture and glassware.  Duane came across an adorable little side table with a deep drawer.  Great condition for it's age.

Afterwards, we headed for coffee and snacks and just chilled out for awhile before heading home.

Our haul.

Duane's tiny Delft house.

Two Friday Estate Sales

From sale no.1.

Yesterday morning Duane, Linda, and I set out for two large estate sales.  One was a 'living' estate sale because the owner, an artist, was in the process of moving to a much smaller place.  She had not only her own art and antiques but she was a collector, too.

Much of her own painting consisted of delicate work on pieces of white china.  It was a large house for one person but she had used one of the bedrooms as a studio.  Other rooms held a large number of vintage books, particularly children's books, along with various ceramics, clocks, and household items.

Linda found a beautiful enamel on metal shallow bowl made in Austria.
She also purchased a vintage book.  Duane found two small pieces to add
to her Delft ware collection -- a tiny hanging tile and a toothpick holder.

Sale no.1 -- lots of candlewick dinnerware.

I found a beautiful piece of coral -- it's a rose coral fossil.  This artist had collected fossils along with her other passions.

 Sale no.1 -- cabinet containing the fossils.

           

Sale no.1 -- the artist's home studio.

Sale no.1 -- lots of vintage books.

The first sale had begun at 8am.  After we left it, we were close enough to the second sale to make it before it began at 9am.  This was a 'dead' estate sale and everything had to go.  Lots of furniture, china, ceramics, etc.

Sale no.2 -- lots of everything.

The second sale had a lot of nice items, too, but Linda and I ended up buying a cache of yarn and some vintage needles.  The yarn we may divvy up or just send all of it to the latest place we've been knitting and crocheting squares to make blankets.  They'll take finished 8 inch squares and/or yarn donations and we're happy to oblige.  They're called Love-Squared.   Here's their Facebook page.  

After our shopping, we had lots of time for our usual refreshments.  We spent so long talking about various subjects that we were still there when lunch time rolled around to we had lunch together, too.  A terrific day!

Our purchases.

   

A closer look at my coral fossil and Duane's Delft pieces.

Friday estate sales -- We all got lucky!

Stuff all over the walls.

Friday was a good day for estate sales last week and all three of us found items this time around.  We started with one in Duane's neighborhood.  They had a ton of stuff in a house on the Hillsborough River.  This house seemed to ramble on and on with lots of rooms filled with furniture and a ton of small items.  This  was where I found my treasure of the day -- a Jonathan Adler ceramic fish.  Love it!  Duane found a pretty striped cotton scarf.  A good start. 

Cubbies in the walls filled with stuff.

Lots of small items at the second sale, too.

The second estate sale was in the south part of town and was on it's second day but still had lots of stuff.  They were also willing to deal.  The people who lived there must have liked to entertain because there was a lot of glassware and bar items.  The woman had a large amount of formal dresses and shoes along with a very nice selection of jewelry -- costume and real.  Duane bought a beautiful sterling silver ring.  For anyone interested in sports memorabilia, there was plenty of that, too.  Although the three of us were able to pass on those items.

Sports memorabilia.

  
After the two big estate sales we hit a front porch sale and a few yard sales in Duane's neighborhood on our way back from the south side of town.  Linda got lucky at these sales.  The front porch sale yielded two cool wood cigar boxes and one of the yard sales had a 'still sealed in plastic' DVD of 3 Ozzie and Harriet shows.  A trip back to childhood for Linda!

Of course, we hit the coffee shop for treats and to talk about what we had all been up to during the week.  Next Saturday is the Shop Small Business Saturday and we're really looking forward to that!

Our purchases.

Duane's new sterling silver ring.

Granny's got a gun(s) -- Friday Estate Sales

"Granny's got a gun,

Her whole world's come undone..."

My take on Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun."

Some of Granny's other things.

Well, as usual, yesterday morning was estate sale time.  Duane has a horrendous cold and wasn't able to go so it was just Linda and me.  We decided to hit a sale that was literally called 'Granny's Guns' in one part of town and then head to two other sales in the south part of town.  Apparently, Granny had once had an antique and collectibles shop and now everything was being sold off from her home. Home turned out to be a mobile home in a mobile home park.  

One of Granny's guns.

We got there before the 9am starting time and joined a few other people under the carport.  You had to take a number from a roll of tickets in order to get inside when the sale began.  Bummer.  The company holding the sale is known for this.  They're more freaked about theft than any other estate sale company around.  Some people get really ticked off and leave because this company only allows 10 people in the house at a time.  When someone leaves, the next person with a ticket is allowed to go in.  This wouldn't be so bad except there was plenty of room for more than 10 people in that house.  When I went in, there were no other shoppers in 2 of the bedrooms I looked through.  Plus, you have people who either forget or don't care that there are people waiting to get in and start talking and just hanging around.  Sheesh.  This sale turned out to be a big time suck. Because of the amount of time Linda and I spent waiting to get in, we had a lot less time to make it to the next sale when it began at 10am.

Another gun.

Neither of us found anything to buy at Granny's and when we  finally left (we weren't allowed into the house at the same time - ack!), it was already 10am.  We could have been in and out of Granny's in less than half an hour if we hadn't had to wait.  There were a number of men there strictly to see/purchase the guns.  Most of them were, um, rather portly which didn't help when you wanted to get into a small area of tables and they were standing and talking to each other.  An abrupt 'excuse me' got me into an area with tables when one of them moved.  However, I had to 'excuse me' again in order to get back out. 

And one last gun.

Bet the people waiting outside would have been livid to see this behavior.  We've decided that we will be very picky when deciding whether to attend any more sales by this company.  The sale would have to be HUGE with nothing else going on.  Double sheesh.

We were late getting to the 10am sale.  We pulled up around 10:30 and it was packed.  Very large house with lots of nice things, though.  Neither of us bought but it was definitely worth the look.  Wonder what we missed by being so late.  Grrrr...

A room from the second sale.

We finally hit the last sale which was in a house directly across from the bay.  This was the second day of the sale at this house and they still had a lot of great stuff despite having unloaded so much.  The woman who lived there had been an artist and not only were there framed pieces of her art around (along with a table full of water colors and sketches that she either hadn't gotten around to framing or hadn't finished) but also very nice pieces from other artists.  Lots of gorgeous furniture, too.  

Luckily, she turned out to be a crafty person who knitted and crocheted.  I bought 3 sets of plastic knitting needles (I love working with plastic and don't care for metal very much) along with

Sale no.3.  Signed Escher print.

a beautiful all wood abacus.  When I paid, the women in charge of the sale told us to let people know that they had a lot of furniture they still needed to sell.  Nice stuff, too, but neither of us was in the market for furniture.   The pic I've included from this sale is one of the original ones from the ad.  Wish we'd made it there when they had more of these types of items available.

By the time we left the last sale, it wasn't our usual 'let's get coffee/tea and a snack' time -- it was lunch time.  Linda and I had a nice leisurely lunch at Panera's.  I was the only one who got lucky and purchased anything but we always enjoy the hunt.  EXCEPT when we lose precious time due to a poorly executed sale.  Grrr...  

Hopefully, Duane will be well enough to go with us next time.  We missed her.  

 

My purchases.

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.

A Three Estate Sale Friday

First sale.  Cool terrazzo floors.

Friday morning, Linda, Duane, and I set out early to hit three different estate sales.  The good part was that they were all real estate sales and not garage or yard sales.  The bad part was that it looked like  someone had drawn a triangle across the city and our sales were represented by each point on the triangle.  Yes, they couldn't have been farther apart and they all started at the same time.  Sigh.  It happens, so we try to make the best of it.  We decided to hit the one in the south part of town first because it was in the oldest house. 

It was a cool mid-century house with pretty terrazzo floors.  The house wasn't very big but the lot was huge and there was a big kidney shaped swimming pool, a workshop, and a gazebo in the backyard.  I was the only one who bought something at this one -- a DVD.  The owner had great taste in movies but I had already seen or owned most of them.

Second house sale.

Our second stop was more to the west part of town.  This was in a much newer house and the owner had a lot of really nice things.  I bought another movie (big surprise!) and was really interested in an abstract painting but I couldn't make up my mind that quickly on a $200 purchase.  Linda bought (of all things) a brand new garbage can.  It was pretty funny loading it into Mrs. Peel but we got it to fit and still leave room for the three of us.  Duane bought a large pet bed cushion.


Then we hit the last of the three sales which was much further to the northwest of town.  It was being held in a really nice retirement/assisted living type of place.  I had been to a couple of sales there before but decided that it wasn't a great place for them because people looked like they had already downsized before moving in.  However, the person or persons who had lived there had great taste in movies and books.  Duane and Linda both bought books.  I bought another DVD.  Once again, I had already seen most of what they had but we certainly shared the same taste!


This house also had a beautiful wood chest made by Lane.  I'd love one of these if I had a place to put it.  Our buddy David currently has a gorgeous one in his store, A Modern Line, and I've drooled over it the last couple of visits. 
 

Pretty mid-century modern chest.

We know that we missed quite a bit at the second two sales because we literally arrived an hour after the start of the second sale and between 90 minutes to an hour after the start of the third and last sale.  Still, we did all manage to find something and drool over some things we couldn't afford.

Books and movies.

Linda's new trash can and Duane's pet cushion.

We made our way back to a Panera's to get a snack and stretch our legs.  Honestly we were in the car longer than we were at the sales.  Maybe next time the estate sale gods will be in our corner.

Estate Sales and an update on Duane's home office

Duane, Linda, and I hit the road early this morning to get to three estate sales that were being held in the south part of town.  The first sale was a small house that had belonged to a 93 year old lady.  She had nice things but I was the only one who bought anything.  She had been a knitter and I bought a parcel of a mixture of vintage knitting needles and stitch holders.  I love knitting with plastic and bakelite needles so I'm keeping most of those and I'll be sending the extra needles to The Humble Stitch Project for other volunteers to use. 

Our second stop.

The next house was a pretty Spanish style one with lots of nice things.  We got there later since all three sales started at 8am and we couldn't be three places at one time.  This person had wonderful items.  Nice art and furniture and some Jonathan Adler ceramics!  Linda and I each bought an Adler vase.  They were the last two -- all of the other Adler items had been sold.  I've been collecting his pieces for years including just before he became really popular.  (I have one couture piece that he made himself and signed.  I don't think I could afford it now!)  I bought a green vase and Linda bought a goldish/brown one in the abacus pattern.  The prices were fantastic.  Really sorry we missed out on all of the white and lime green pieces.  The owner of this house also had beautiful box framed specimens of insects and butterflies, too.

House no.2 -- nice art.

By the time we got to the third house, which was actually a townhouse, the pickings were pretty slim.  However we felt pretty lucky with our finds from sale number 2.  Our only complaint was that the same company was handling the sales for houses 2 and 3.  This meant a LONG line to check out with only one person doing the work at the second house.  Not a good idea to stretch yourselves that thin, guys.  Lots of grumbling in the line.  Good thing the stuff was nice!

Our buys.

After we hit the third sale, we headed to the Starbucks near Duane for our usual refreshment and gabfest.  Then when we drove back to Duane's house, she showed us what she had purchased during the week from one of our favorite antique/vintage shops, D & D  Antiques.  Duane has been slowly but surely getting her home office/art studio into shape (see blog post here).  She found two shabby chic style chairs at D & D and they look great in her office.  She had also purchased an upholstered chair a few weeks ago from a local thrift store that she's using for a desk chair.  Now she's just looking for a rug to finish off the office.  She still has a lot of sorting and organizing to do in the art studio section but her office is now ready for the three of us to get together and knit, snack, and gab.  Some of the things we do best.

Duane's office desk chair.

Shabby chic chairs on opposite sides of the room.

Saturday sales

Linda's table.

Linda, Duane, and I hit a thrift shop sale, an estate sale and a large yard sale Saturday morning.  We wanted to get to the sale at the Friends and Neighbors Thrift Store first so that Linda would have a chance to nab the adorable pale blue wicker table we saw there last Friday.  Happily, she got it at a great price.  It's a nice size table and she plans to use it in her master bedroom.  Linda and I also both bought a DVD each.  I've noticed that this shop has a nice selection of movies at great prices. 

Next, we hit an estate sale that was entering it's second day.  This sale was in an older section of what's referred to as 'Old Carrollwood' and the items were very nice.  There were two LeRoy Neiman signed serigraph prints.  One of the three tenors and the other was of Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong.  All three of us loved the 'Satchmo' print but, alas, it was beyond our budgets.

Neiman 'Satchmo' signed serigraph.

We didn't end up buying anything at this estate sale although we might have found something if we had gotten there on Friday morning when it first began.  A lot of smaller items had been sold.  The last sale we visited was completely by accident.  We happened to notice it as we were driving back to where the three of us met that morning.  Duane and I saw a yard sale in a very large front yard.  Linda made a quick left turn and we were there.  This lady had a lot of cute small stuff.  Mainly new items that she purchases in bulk because she takes items to children in different countries.  She had just returned from the Honduras.  I found several cool items for my nieces when I visit them next week in Virginia.  Linda also bought some new luggage tags and a book. 

Our small purchases.

We were near a large Starbucks -- hurray, we actually had no problem finding a table -- after we hit the estate sale so we were pretty caffeine-ated by the time we hit that yard sale.  The small items for each of my nieces are a finger puppet, a luggage tag for their school backpacks that say 'Hands Off!' and these cute little 'camera' keychains that make a clicking sound and flash a light when you press the button.   From LeRoy Neiman to tiny 'made in China' toys -- as always -- we never know what we'll find.

Estate/yard sales -- you just never know

Linda and I headed out early yesterday morning to three estate and yard sales.  Duane wasn't able to go with us due to family commitments.  I was just sure that the first sale was going to be the jackpot.  It was being held in an older part of town and the only place it was listed was The Flyer.  It's gotten kind of pricey to put an ad in The Flyer -- especially since you can list for free on Craig's List and Gsalr.com.  It was listed as an estate sale, though, so you can imagine our disappointment when Linda and I met at the address only to discover that it was an elderly man just getting rid of some things.  In other words -- a garden variety yard sale.  He had some tables set up in his one car garage and an area next to it.  Linda noticed that the items were kind of pricey although I did hear the man say that everything was half off the sticker price.  Something tells me that he was a flea market vendor and was just getting rid of some stuff.  Neither of us saw anything we wanted at his yard sale.

The next sale was out in a bedroom community called Lutz.  It was an honest to goodness estate sale.  The people having it were selling everything including a lot of nice furniture because they're moving out of state and plan to build a new house when they do.  Although neither of us bought anything, we were relieved that this one was an actual estate sale and not just a yard sale.  The prices were good and the items were nice, too.

The last sale which was held a little further north in Lutz was the one I least expected to be a good one.  It was listed as a yard sale and just said, 'lots of misc.' which can mean anything.  Also, it was located in a mixed area of old industrial type stores and older small houses.  Well, we hit one of the coolest sales I've been to in awhile.  It was a little old house and items were set up on tables in the yard, on the porch and in the house.  It turned out to be the home of a couple who sell at one of the best flea markets around -- the Webster flea market.  I posted here when Linda and I went to the market in Webster last spring.  This couple wants to get out of the business so they held what was basically a mini flea market of cool stuff at their house.  Lots of vintage items.  I bought a garnet necklace and a bag of wood crochet hooks.  Linda found a beautiful vintage Japanese/Nippon coffee/tea cup of the type of porcelain she collects.  We were just sorry that Duane missed this sale.  She loves old stuff.  Apparently there was even more jewelry when they started their sale at 8am so who knows what we missed.  The lady told me that she's going to have another sale in about a month.  We don't want to miss it!

So the least promising looking of the sales from an advertising perspective was, by far, the best one.  As we tell ourselves, you just never know what will be a dud and what will be a find.

We also went to a thrift shop that I had noticed before but had never visited called Friends and Neighbors Thrift Store.  It's located a bit off the main road just before you leave Tampa and enter Lutz.  Nice shop with good stuff and good prices.  I bought a couple of DVDs and Linda fell in love with the prettiest wicker table painted blue.  The owner told us that next Saturday, they're having their parking lot sale and the furniture will be 1/2 price plus anyone in the community is welcome to set up a table and sell stuff for free.  We're going to head back and (fingers crossed!) hope that Linda can snag that table for 1/2 price.

Lastly, we went to a Starbucks that was inside a Super Target.  I'd never been to this but it was in Lutz and Linda knew about it.  It was a nice break after a fun morning.

Our buys.

 

Big estate sales, small purchases

Duane, Linda and I hit two estate sales early this morning.  The first one was another one in the section of town known as 'Old Carrollwood' and had a big variety of items.  The couple who had owned the house traveled a lot so there was quite a bit of nice art, ceramics, etc.  Unfortunately, the company handling the estate sale was the one that only allows 10 people at a time into the house.  We first hit one of their sales last summer and said 'never again' but since they did specify in their ad about the 'people limit' we thought there might be fewer buyers.  We were right about that.  Normally a sale like this would have a very long line but this one didn't and we didn't have to wait very long to get in.  There were a number of people loudly grumbling about how ridiculous it was to have to wait but I guess this company has had problems with theft.  With so many small items for sale, I can see where it would be easy for someone to slip items into a pocket, etc.  

I was tempted by several items, particularly some of the art, but the few people who were in the house when our little trio got in were really scarfing stuff up.  I wasn't interested enough to push my newly sharpened elbows in and go after any of the spoils.  Duane did buy a set of china English egg coddlers.  Very nice. 

At the second sale, I found a pretty serving tray.  I like to use trays when I have company to serve cookies, etc.  Linda found some decorative candy wrappers and Duane bought some cake decorating items. 

Afterwards, we hit a nearby Starbucks and spent a lot of time gabbing while we had a snack.  Ah, the fun is in the hunt.

Our purchases.

Friday Estate Sales

A room at the first sale.

Yesterday morning, Duane, Linda and I went to two estate sales on the south side of town.  The first one was in an enormous house.  Every time I thought I had seen every room, particularly the ones on the second floor, I'd find myself in a new one.  The house had more than one staircase so that caused a little confusion, too.  Most of the furnishings were ornate and there were some lovely antiques.   I ended up buying a couple of books but passed on a signed etching that was very tempting.  I also found a cool fabric remnant that I plan to use to recover the seat of a desk chair in my living room.  Due to the size of the crowd, even in such a large house, there was a lot of elbowing going on.  We did get out unscathed, though.

"Christmas" estate sale.

The second sale was at a smaller house and was advertised as a 'Christmas' estate sale.  Apparently the company handling the sale decided to decorate the house for the holiday.  Linda did find a really cute snowman ornament.  The owner had a number of Christopher Radko ornaments but I already have a tree-full (thanks, George!) so I passed on those.  However, I did buy some crochet hooks and knitting needles to send to The Humble Stitch.  I also bought a pretty set of Vera Bradley pencils still new in the package.  Duane found a book to add to her ever-growing library.  Linda desperately wanted a vintage chest of drawers that was sitting in one of the rooms but, alas, it was not for sale.

One of the books I purchased was the raunchy book Fifty Shades of Grey.  I told Duane and Linda that we should all read it so we won't be the only people who haven't read at least some of the book. 

Afterwards, we headed to Starbucks and managed to snag the small area in the corner with the little couch and easy chairs.  It was nice to have a treat while filling each other in on our various Thanksgiving holidays.

Our purchases.