Role Reversal

     I had a yard sale! How's that for putting the shoe on the other foot!? ;-) I had a great time. Yard sales are FUN and when you host one, you get to be at one all morning. Win-win. Oh and you make some extra cash while cleaning out. Quadruple win-win! 

     I had a yard sale last August at the same time as some of my neighbors. We had a good turnout and I did get rid of some stuff but my goal that day was to bring in extra cash because my work had just cut our hours and therefore our pay. THANKS CONGRESS. Well I had a completely different attitude this time. E will be moving in with me in a few months when we are married and man has junk. I have junk. All that junk can't fit in this house. Okay technically it could. I just don't want all that junk hanging around. So early March or even late February, I had the idea of a yard sale in late March. I knew it would be almost-but-not-quite yard sale 'season' and felt like some folks would be ready to get out and we could attract more buyers. IT RAINED. So much for that theory but thankfully I had my ad read: RAIN OR SHINE, because I was setting up in my garage anyway. Speaking of ads, I ran one in the local paper (which was TOO expensive but ol' girl was on a mission), put pictures with my location on several Facebook yard sale groups and on Craigslist. We also had signs out on the main road from my neighborhood. 

     We had several big items, 2 of which sold to my friends and really made me wonder why I didn't just better advertise on my personal Facebook. Ha! I was happy to do "good deals" with them because I knew the items were going to great homes and they both texted me later and told me how much they love what they bought. :-)

     Y'all. I think I should go into the yard sale consulting business. I just had a great time getting everything ready! The day before the sale I mapped out how I would set up the garage. That was a great idea because when I was ready to arrange everything I almost felt overwhelmed but remembered I had made the map and it was so easy! I told several of my neighbors I was having the sale and they could join me if they wanted to but I only had one take me up on it. She had a tables worth of stuff and had an extra long table that she let me use. Whoohoo! 

     E was not really planning to be out in the sale all day but he had stuff to sell and I told him to have his bottom dollar in mind so if someone wanted to negotiate we wouldn't be panicking. I took my own advice and that really made a difference as well. If you get emotionally attached to your price on the sticker - 9 times out of 10 it WON'T sell. When your goal is to make money you can't come off the sticker price. When your goal is to move junk out, you have a better price available and life is so much better. Yard sale 101. E and my neighbor stayed in the garage all morning. It was a nice morning and we all enjoyed talking to folks and exchanging stories. 

E made this! In this high school shop class. I was surprised he wanted to let it go, but he did and he got his asking price. Probably because my neighbor talked it up. ;-)

I sold one! I have plans to make a shelf out of the last one so I am not heart-broken that it did not sell.

The set-up, row 1. That's my neighbors goodies on the table by the door. 

Clothes on row 2.

I had a table with my vintage goodies. I actually did price these competitively. I didn't anticipate any selling and sure enough, they didn't. It was a long shot and I knew it. 

Junk table number 1 on row 3. Clothes on row 2. 

Junk table number 2 (thanks to my neighbor!)

More clothes. And the mini-fridge sold!

Clothes and more clothes!

I had an impressive amount of home improvement items. Amazingly, half or more sold. That was super exciting to me!

Neighbors stuff

And more of her stuff

E had a bunch of car parts and I don't think any sold but we didn't expect them to since they are typically so expensive. He had a decent price on them but we will have to try selling through Craigslist or something to find the right buyer.

How'd you enjoy my yard sale? Ready to come back in August or September? Yep, I think I'll have another one! 

Announcing................

A really good haul......

There are 4 main estate sale teams in town and one of them sticks everything they deem as 'not possible to sell for $500+' in the garages. Y'all. The garage is my favorite place to shop! They always hand you a bag and whatever you can stuff in it, you get for $3 usually, but this trip it was $2. YoYO! The above picture is everything stuffed in it, including paint thinner, citronella for tiki torches, bug spray, and then my "finds"....

Card decks, hair scissors, letter holder, and embroidery hoop. I took a chance on these card decks because they were just thrown on a shelf and cards were laying beside the boxes. Luckily all of the cards were there!

On a good Sunday, there are multiple estate sales. This haul was a bit more than $2, but still good junk!

At the same sale, E found this organizer thing - of which the day before he told me he needed. Sch-weet! $7.50 seemed pricey but then I saw smaller ones at Lowe's for $20+ so I felt better. ;)


Also ANNOUNCING..............................

The GypsyAnnesJunk Etsy shop! Ahhh!!! :-)) Visit today and follow along to see what good finds belong in a new home.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/GypsyAnnesJunk

I have already sold one of the deck of cards I mentioned above. Whoop whoop! I can't even formulate quality sentences because I am SO excited.

Linked Up @ thriftershare!

Lucky Finds

It's luck of the Irish time!

E and I stopped in ONE thrift store this weekend (and no yard or estate sales) and I only found 2 household goodies but I call them my lucky finds! 

Aren't we all on the never ending quest to find the gold at the end of the rainbow!

Beautiful lightweight wooden hand-painted tole tray from the 60's. 

Fabulous cooper vase. Turkish?

What's up Shamrockers!

Top O' the Mornin' to Ya!

I'm linking up with thriftermakerfixerfarm & alivingspace!

Mardi Gras & Hallway Art

I said I wasn't going to worry about decorating for Mardi Gras. On a gorgeous sunny day, I convinced myself otherwise. Granted, my decorating isn't a grand scheme, ha! It's nice to be festive. The sunny part was important because I swapped out my garden flag from Valentine's Day to Mardi Gras. ;-)

The chevron Welcome sign is still fabulously serving its purpose and I am still loving my foyer. :)

This mask is from my freshman year at college when I was in French Club and we had a Mardi Gras night. Fun times!

Goodies from NOLA & Mobile. 

New foyer decor - I found this beauty in a flea mall sometime last year. And, while it stays here "full-time" it's very fitting for Mardi Gras!  

Fun, original pieces of art from a local artist. 

Small oil painting by Grace Blaco. I found it at a local estate sale last weekend for 3 dollars. (heyhey!) The card on the back says, '"Make every occasion a pleasant memory" with Gifts By Grace / Grace Blaco Belton, MO R 2 / 331-6513 / Oil Paintings Driftwood.' ((Swoon!))

Ok, here's a shot of some of my sweet treasures as they are now, such as my Stephen Hudson watercolor print.

This oil painting is a nice compliment to my Merle Norman Lucite makeup box...... That I found at a yard sale for ONE dollar. I didn't realize what it was when I bought it; I just knew I liked it and I really thought a dollar was a stretch! Luckily a Google search later convinced me that I got a steal. ;) 

A couple of my personal paintings. Certainly nothing special but both were done at those painting parties with friends! 

I am in a blue phase it appears. The blue painting on the left is the same guy from my two white paintings in the foyer. (More info to come once I remember his name...) The print on the right is by a Birmingham artist.

I have a couple more spots that I "need" more art to cover. Back to the hunt!

Linking up with a living space & thriftermakerfixerfarm.

Ohhhh it's thrifty

Oh, ho, ho

It's thrifty, you know
Never believe it's not so
It's thrifty, you know
Never believe, it's not so

Yes, I am channeling THAT song, Oh Ho Ho It's Magic! Ok Pilot-ters, let's get to the good stuff. Stumbled across a rather epic estate sale today. A decent amount of goodies with even better prices. That's the best kind.... AmIright or amIright?!

Help! What is this?! A telephone table?? 

I LOVE the color and it's in very good condition. I can't wait to find the perfect spot for it in my home. 

This has to be a child's chair. Maybe it went with a table and chairs set? It was adorable and I couldn't leave it. There are silver specks in the seat fabric! I first thought the seat had been recovered but after further inspection, I think it is original. 

The material has flaked in a couple places and the metal isn't perfect but aside from the cosmetics, it is in good condition.

Well hello signed baseball! I am still in the middle of my mission to find out who these guys are. 

Some of the names are very faded. I have a feeling these players were from Jax State or from an opposing team; this house was less than half a mile from the JSU baseball field. 

How do you even start to identify  these players? I will be googling names the best I can but I'm not sure that's the best way!

If you are an "autumn" person, this should be extra beautiful to you! 

Crooksville China Co; 839; E84; Made In U.S.A {What does the overstamped E84 mean? Quality check?}

Beautiful sugar and creamer! I will put these in the booth because they aren't my kind of design, but I sure do think they are just beautiful.

Single plate with small chip, more like a flake on an edge. (Of course I didn't realize until I got home with it. Oh well, I love the flowers!)

Arc Arcopal France; probably a ten dollar plate. I will display it somewhere in my kitchen. 

I love tortoise shell print and I love Lucite! This was actually from a second estate sale and I paid a rather outrageous three dollars for it but I will put it to good use. It actually had several spools of thread and miscellaneous sewing things in it already. I see it goes for eighteen or so dollars online so that made me feel better about those three dollars!

Doesn't this set look great! Surprise, surprise - the coffee pot came from the first estate sale, and the sugar and creamer from the second! Two different towns and two different types of sales. I did a double take when I saw the sugar and creamer and especially when I saw the six dollar sticker. Ekkk! But, since I knew that I had the matching coffee pot - I felt it was a good buy. I haven't done any research on these. It's interesting that the creamer and sugar have red letter Japan on them. 

Coffee pot

Working, fabulous clock - in addition to a Lucite addiction, I have a slight clock addiction.

The Miracle Worker Regent Sheffield Carving Knife.
(Did anyone else immediately hear Fran screeching, "Mr. Sheffield!"?!)

Detail of knife

Why yes I will use scissors that are older than me!

Score! Can't wait to use this. {Rada, knife sharpener}

WIN Engraver, likely from the sixty's, based on make and model.

Glass casters. 

Painted flowers tray! Love these designs.
It may get to stay in my kitchen ;-)

Any insight on the chair? I am not a furniture expert.... I just am willing to take a good looking piece home for the right price! Would love to know a date for it.

PLEASE ignore the mess. This baby is in my garage until I get her fully cleaned up. So we had been pretty much through the whole house and the folks kept saying, "we will do great deals for ya, pick out whatever you like" but never really committed to HOW great. I spotted this chair, sat in it (pretty comfy!), inspected  and asked the lady what'd it have on it. When she said "five" I had to catch my eye balls as they popped out of my head. Nonchalantly I said I'd take it. No biggie.



Overall, I'd say it was a great finds kind-of day. E bought several things as well but I don't know what happened to them nor do I really know what they were - tool stuff, I think.

I am linking up @ alivingspace & thriftermakerfixerfarm!