Garage Sales

Holy poop, I am posting a lot today, and it feels good. I hope all 7 of you followers enjoy my posts! Yes, SEVEN followers. One is my husband and 1 joined to get a discount on my Etsy store merchandise. I have no shame, I coerce people to read my blog as punishment.

I will, again, admit my shallow and naive roots in saying I used to hate garage sales. I think it’s because one time when I was in elementary school I remember being at a garage sale with my grandma. She walked to the school to pick me up, and we’d walk home together. One day on our walk home, she saw a garage sale and we swung by. Well, lots of kids happened to be walking home so I got double made fun of for being with my grandma and for being at a garage sale. After that I always felt ashamed to be at one. I do remember what my grandma bought at that garage sale though; she purchased a like-new white lampshade that she later added a pretty floral print to and totally revamped it. Go granny! She had the right idea about garage sales, and now I do, too. Though my granny is gone to a better place, I still love her and miss her, and I cannot thank her enough for all she did for me. Miss you granny.

The past 2 weekends I have gone to garage sales here in Beeville, and I noticed a few things. Mostly that you never know what you’re going to find- in a good or bad way. My advice? Just get out there! Rhoda from Southern Hospitality wrote a great blog post about this topic, you should read it. I haven’t had to haggle yet, and honestly after wedding planning I have NO energy left to argue, so basically if the price was unreasonable, I just didn’t bother.

The first weekend I got all this:

The 3 lace-y placemats cost me $1.00, the glass candle holder was 25-cents, the 2 brass candlesticks were $1.00 for the pair, the picture frame is brand new and was $1.00 ($10+ at Wal-Mart!), and the wooden thingy that’s between the candlesticks was 50-cents. Daniel gave me the craziest look when I got back into the car with the wooden thingy, but I knew exactly what to do with it when I saw it. Just wait! I also got a cute heart ornament, but it’s in the car and it’s just a porcelain heart. Nothing amazing, but it was 25-cents. Total spent= $4.00 and about 1.5 hours of my time. (Thanks love for driving me around! Smooches!)

I think I would normally have overlooked the candlesticks, but I was on the hunt for brass after this post. I would love to meet up with Centsational Girl, Eddie Ross, and Rhoda all at the same time. It’s like my home decor wet dream.

TMI? Oh well, we’re close here at Monica Wants It. *hugs*

I’ll show pics of how it’s all used after I use it.

And I also went garage sale-ing last weekend, sans husband. I must say it was more fun being driven around, but I actually had a good time. I knocked out 5 garage sales in like 1 hour AND I even made a taco run in there for some fuel. Can’t shop on an empty stomach people! I only bought one thing and it cost me $5.00 and I found it at the first sale I went to, so I guess in hindsight I could have just stopped there and gone home, but I didn’t. That’s too easy. Monica doesn’t do easy. Now brace yourselves, because this purchase is freakin’ fabulous. You’re going to be even more smitten once I tell you what I plan to use it for… if I do tell you, that is.

Here it is in it’s tacky gold glory:

Gorgeous. It had cobwebs, dust, and other sorts of nastiness, so I immediately wiped it down before bringing it inside. People- if you have a yard sale, please dust the items before hand. Thanks. I wanted a cute, scrolly, ornate, and spacious shelf, and I didn’t want to pay lots of money. I tend to see something in a blog that I love, and then I obsess about it. I have been obsessing over this:

Picture from Centsational Girl

See that cute pink mirrored hutch? Well, I love that it’s scrolly and ornate. I wanted something just like it, and I think my tacky gold shelf fits the bill.

Any guesses as to what I am going to do with it? I’ll give you 3 hints: heirloom white, dowel, crafts.