Sale of the Century

A dear friend asked me this week…don't you kinda wish you could go to your own sale? 
Yes, I really would love my sale. Of course, I bought all the things I’m selling because I liked them. Isn’t that why it’s so hard to put them in the sale? I’ve been going to rummage moving garage yard sales for years now, and I’ve even had a few of my own. I get this rock in my stomach the morning of an anticipated sale, especially if it’s community-wide.

Mickey’s $2 dresser

I’m a bargain hunter by nature. I love a good deal. I also have an eye for making other people’s trash into my treasure. I’ve amazed Britt on numerous occasions…bringing home something (like Mickey’s dresser) that most people would just put in the dumpster. Mickey’s dresser was $2 at one such sale. But I could see through the many layers of paint to the gem underneath. I knew it was quality made back in the day when all things were quality made…out of real wood. I put a lot of hours into stripping the layers away, and then later staining it and adding new hardware. I never took a before and after picture back then. But I should have.

trash to treasure hutch

Then there was the hutch. I wasn’t even going to sales that day. I just happened to be driving by and saw this poor thing sitting waiting to be rescued. I made Britt pick it up for me after work that day. He so loves getting those calls! And this was back before I had a cell phone.

couch from 1800’s

And the couch…I fell in love with that thing the moment I laid eyes on it. For this one, Britt had to drive all the way to Millersburg to pick it up. Of course, I didn’t realize the back of it was broken either. I didn’t hear the end of that one for a long time…well at least until I fixed it. We looked up the age on it by comparing the hand-cut nails that I found as I stripped the original fabric off. It dated back to the 1800’s. So I fell more in love with it…until I tried to fix it. If I wasn’t such a determined strong-willed person, I’d have sent it out to the fire pit. I cried over it and did a lot of thinking…just sitting there looking at it and thinking, “How do I make this work?” Well, I finally figured it out, of course. It never really went with most of the decor it’s lived with the past 3 years. But after all that work, it had to be used. So I just changed the decor around it to make it work. Although, I was in that process when God asked us to move. So there are still magazine pictures and ideas in my head floating around that will never get used.

updated and no longer broken

As I sorted through the rooms in our house, I was reminded that we have only purchased a few pieces of furniture brand new. The rest is either restored or something I built. It’s funny, I didn’t really build furniture because I enjoyed it so much. It was more out of necessity. I found that when we buy things now-a-days they don’t hold up under the wear of seven kids. And to buy things that do hold up, you have to spend way more money than my bargain hunter’s budget will allow. So the alternative was to build it myself. I’ve gotten most of my ideas from magazine tear-outs that I’ve collected. And then, wu-lah, several days later after ignoring my children and letting them fend for themselves, I’d have a sturdy piece of furniture produced and ready for use.

designed from a magazine tear-out
It had to be big enough to fit our family
and sturdy enough to withstand the abuse.

If you come to my big “sale of the century”, you will find some rather new looking stuff, well used and loved stuff, and one mother who is hoping not to cry as customers come take it all away.

our basement filled to capacity

Yep, got a lot of stuff to sell!

By-the-way, none of the above mentioned refurbished items are for sale (except maybe for the couch…depending if my 3rd daughter, Logan decides she can take it), as my tender-hearted sister-in-law is keeping them in this very house. The table I built might be for sale too…also pending. You will just have to come check it out this weekend, Friday & Saturday, June 15 & 16.