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Flea Markets / Estate Sales

JillW

JillW

I love lavend ... zzzzzz ...
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Mar 1, 2013
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Hubby and I enjoy going to flea markets every now and again - Thursday we stopped @ an estate sale and picked up 3 large metal shelves to use for our grandkiddos toys (they have LOTS!) - after a coat of spray paint, they look like new! Today we found 3 very cool vintage chairs for their play room. (The shelves are to the left in the photo - they are perfect for all of their Fisher Price goodies).
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Do you go to flea markets / sales? We go about 3 times a year ... and only to ones we know that aren't filled with "junk dealers".
 
What fun chairs! And I spy the F-P farm. I remember that from my childhood!

I love estate sales and garage sales but they don't tend to have them here. Or if they do, they want exorbitant prices. (My opinion about garage sales is that I'm doing the seller a favor by taking away their junk for them.) I have better luck at goodwill around here. I found A brand new nightstand at goodwill for $15. It still had the tags on it from Target. (So not a "designer" nightstand, but it was in perfect shape and worked for the narrow space I needed for.)

DH hates garage sales and goodwill. He hates shopping of any kind lol, and he gets really nervous if I find something cuz I admit that I have, only a few times, "dumpster dived." For example, and it wasn't actually in a dumpster, neighbors moved out and left a console table for trash collection. I dragged it across the road and into our garage. We use it for gardening stuff. It fits perfectly in front of my vehicle. :) we moved it from Houston to here cuz even DH had to admit that it does well for what we need.
 
What awesome finds!! I love how their playroom is coming together, what a fun little area for children!! Also, that Fisher Price stuff is giving me heavy nostalgia! LOL!

I looove garage sales and goodwill. My sister goes to estate sales all the time because she's a 1920's to 40's style in everything. Dresses, jewelry, house decor, she even has her house painted in all the 'vintage' colors. All of her appliances are vintage (except her fridge..) and have been fixed up by various friends to work perfect. She has a vintage style bed. I went with her a few times when I still lived in Texas. They were very.. I don't know. Spooky? It was weird walking around someone's house and 'shopping' from there but she always found great finds. I have one 'metal' mesh purse (think coin purse) that I still use to this day for my jewelry so it doesn't get crushed when traveling, I bought that at one of the estate sales.

Flea markets are so fun as well but you have to sift through soooo much crap to get to the gems. I still enjoy those when I have a day free... albeit I'm not sure if they have those here in Minnesota.. hmm. I'll have to look into that.

@Tree City I have dumpster dived a LOT. My sister used to gross out at it, then finally she said "my sister 're-purposes' things she finds." to put it in her ever elegant terms and I liked that. When we dumpster dive, we're 'recycling' and re-purposing! :D
 
I haven't been to an estate sale in a long time! My parents used to go to an auction house when I was a kid, and bring home finds. It was mostly full of estate items. I'm more likely to go to the thrift stores. I don't know if there's a flea market here or not? I imagine there is.
I'm the same way @Tree City I'm not paying retail at a garage sale! You want me to take it, so you don't have to donate it or spend time Facebook selling.
@Serena I have a friend that checks out trash piles and sees what's there. Because in her state it's not illegal to take trash from the street, but it is illegal to take stuff out of a dumpster on private property. :giggle I love how she gets around it! In Mass, there is a weekend when all the college kids have to be out of their rentals, so we would drive down the street and check out the good things they were throwing away! It was always busier than any yard sale!
 
I love Flea Markets/Estate Sales but I find that the flea markets here are more junk than good and higher prices than I want to spend.

We have a big yard sale (I27 yard sale) that goes through Kentucky but the traffic is so bad that I hate to go.
 
Fab paint choices!!! Love it. I love those steel office book shelves. Great for the kids.
 
I love yard sales, estate sales, etc but auctions get my adrenaline too high! I used to go to auctions in England and prices were dirt cheap and the $ was very strong. I had so much fun!

Now I know enough to stay away from all these sales. it's just way too tempting for me and I have NO room for more! boo hoo
 
I love pottering around the antique stores when we're in the UK but I can't really tell "good" pieces from "bad" in terms of value. A friend of ours bought a vase at a garage sale for $2 and it turned out to be worth $500!
 
Meredith78 said:
I love pottering around the antique stores when we're in the UK but I can't really tell "good" pieces from "bad" in terms of value. A friend of ours bought a vase at a garage sale for $2 and it turned out to be worth $500!
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Wow - how cool is that?!
 
I love flea markets and estate sales, but I have a hard time finding anyone to go with me lol. I guess I just need to start heading out on my own!! I adore those chairs and the shelves!
 
Oh wow ... great finds! I love going to flea markets!

When I lived in CA I did the estate sales a lot more often - there were enough in one small area which made it worth it. I always looked forward to Estate sale season. Here it's a lot more rural, & they seem too spread out - so not worth my time.

A pretty famous flea market not too far from me is the Elephant Trunk flea market. We go there usually 2x a year or so. There are a few others we sometimes go to too ... but that one is our fave.
 
jenn mccabe said:
A pretty famous flea market not too far from me is the Elephant Trunk flea market. We go there usually 2x a year or so. There are a few others we sometimes go to too ... but that one is our fave.
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Jenn, I'm so jealous. I WANT TO GO THERE! I had 2 (shopping-related) places I wanted to visit this summer and the Elephant Trunk is one of them. Unfortunately we couldn't go cuz I didn't want to wander a flea market with a sprained ankle. So that'll wait until next year. :) Anyway, it's good to read from someone who's actually been there!
 
Tree City said:
Jenn, I'm so jealous. I WANT TO GO THERE! I had 2 (shopping-related) places I wanted to visit this summer and the Elephant Trunk is one of them. Unfortunately we couldn't go cuz I didn't want to wander a flea market with a sprained ankle. So that'll wait until next year. :) Anyway, it's good to read from someone who's actually been there!
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definitely let me know when you go ... i will meet you !!!
 
jenn mccabe said:
Oh wow ... great finds! I love going to flea markets!

When I lived in CA I did the estate sales a lot more often - there were enough in one small area which made it worth it. I always looked forward to Estate sale season. Here it's a lot more rural, & they seem too spread out - so not worth my time.

A pretty famous flea market not too far from me is the Elephant Trunk flea market. We go there usually 2x a year or so. There are a few others we sometimes go to too ... but that one is our fave.
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We were just watching Flea Market Flip on CMT and they were at the Elephant Trunk flea market! LOL!
 
I've only been to one estate sale. It was an old house about a block from here... it was so fascinating, like stepping into a time capsule! I was so overwhelmed with the stuff that I didn't buy anything... but it was amazing to walk through. The family had been there for 70ish years... and there didn't seem to be anything in there that had been added since the 70's/80's (there may have been, but that had been claimed by family, maybe?). I wish I would have bought some of the vintage Christmas decorations since they reminded me of the stuff my grandmother had.

I used to go to garage sales all of the time when the kids were little.... I got amazing deals on things. I don't go now as they don't really happen in the city.

I really wish I could refinish furniture! Maybe I need to find a piece of furniture from the alley to experiment with. My kids dragged home a papasan chair from the alley one day... I agreed to the frame as long as they left it in the garage for a week and cleaned it well. But it was an absolute no on the cushion though!
 
tkradtke said:
I really wish I could refinish furniture! Maybe I need to find a piece of furniture from the alley to experiment with.
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Yes!! You'll be addicted to it! I had this three drawered dresser once that I found on the trash pick up and repainted it to brighten it up. (it had been majorly scuffed up and the frame was a little loose, too loose for using as a drawer anymore, but!) I took the middle drawer and the two smaller drawers from the very top and put them on this metal frame in my friends yard and then filled them with dirt and flowers. (she loved this little purple and yellow flowers that created this very "filled" look, carpeted type flowers. I wish I could remember what they were or that I had photos.. but they bloomed and draped out over the edges. The middle drawer was filled with morning glories that she wound along the metal frame and then had some button dahlia's in it.

The dresser itself was placed NEXT to the frame (which had this old lamp that didn't work screwed on to it) and the bottom drawer was left fully pulled out but still in the dresser frame and tilted down. We screwed the sides in and then filled that with mini pansies, some moss for the 'carpet' look and this vine plant she let run amok along the top of the dresser and onto the nearby bed frame.

This was all in her front yard and started because of the white metal bed frame she'd taken from her child's toddler bed and then filled it in with dirt and planted roses so she had a 'bed' of roses. I commented on how much I loved it and she had been making the metal frame after we found the broken (but cool looking) antique lamp that wouldn't turn on. Since she had started creating the 'room' outside, when I saw the dresser I knew what we had to do. Her yard looked REALLY cool and I've always wanted to re-create that again myself. I really really really wish I had photos, but I didn't even know about scrapbooking back then and wasn't into photography.
 
I love thrift stores. I've never been to an Estate Sale before though...but I'm sure I would love it.

I just went to Goodwill yesterday & found some winter clothes for the kids & a couple of $1.00 craft items for the kids to play with.
 
Tree City said:
Jenn, I'm so jealous. I WANT TO GO THERE! I had 2 (shopping-related) places I wanted to visit this summer and the Elephant Trunk is one of them. Unfortunately we couldn't go cuz I didn't want to wander a flea market with a sprained ankle. So that'll wait until next year. :) Anyway, it's good to read from someone who's actually been there!
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jenn mccabe said:
definitely let me know when you go ... i will meet you !!!
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Me Too!!!!


I LOVE LOVE to buy anything used! I'm a huge recycler! All you need to do is walk around my house and the only thing that is bought brand new is a few Ikea chairs. And I would love to preplace those! I love to repurpose stuff for my home. Or I see something and love I will show my hubby and he always can do it for me at a cheaper price. Example the three lights over my island in the kitchen, we bought the cord lights ourselves and I went to the Antique mall and found 3 matching pie tins and he drilled a hole and those are the shades! We put up a wood wall in our den. I really wanted old barn wood but after research decided to do it ourselves. We bought the cheapest wood you could find at HD and ruffed it up then you take vinager/steel wool solution and paint that onto the boards. Like magic they now look like old barn wood!
 
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