Garage Sale Finds 8-14-17

This past weekend was a good one for sales.  We actually started on Thursday and hit one jam packed estate sale!  Thursday was also my birthday and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than digging around through old stuff.  This house had 2 floors, plus the basement and the garage.  I was in heaven!  Here's all the stuff we got at that sale....

A nice sled....

A cute pair of brown baby shoes and 10 assorted size doilies....

A brand new glue gun, 2 embroidery hoops and a 13 star flag....

I loved this trunk!  It's in excellent condition and the side flashing is all copper.  I doubt I'll do anything to this except clean it up and air it out...

The bottom of the trunk was lined in old newspapers...

Check out the date - I bought this on August TENTH and the paper was dated August 11th, 1955.  That is only one day off by 62 years.  Holy crap!

I love looking at the old ads and articles...

A couple spools of ribbon for an upcoming project and another picture frame....

More ribbon and a cookie press in the original box....

2 beautiful half aprons that don't look like they were ever worn and a crocheted pot holder...

 2 rolling pins....

A pair of embroidered pillowcases....

I loved this - a hand cross-stitched tablecloth.  It is beautiful!  Can you imagine all the hours that had to go into making this??

This is a numbered and signed watercolor by Pat Coffmann Huss.  I need to do some research on this one...

And my personal favorite - this blue and white quilt.  It's so pretty that I am almost tempted to keep it for myself.  I found the tablecloth and the quilt stuffed in the aforementioned trunk.  They are rather yellowed and musty smelling but I'm working on fixing all that...

I hope I can get this stain out...

The back is rather dingy, but we'll see what happens...

And how cute is this?  Nancy was the name of the old woman that everything belonged to.  She recently passed away and her kids were cleaning out the house and getting it ready to sell.  Her daughter in law told me that she was quite the crafter and did all the hand stitching on everything we bought.  I hope I find a good home for Nancy's things.
  

Fridays sales were slim and we didn't find much.  A set of Christmas themed napkin holders, some cookie cutters, and 2 vanity mirrors....

Saturday was another bonanza day!  We started off by going back to the sale we hit on my birthday.  We figured that since it was the last day we'd pick up some bargains and boy did we ever.  We grabbed another sled at a real bargain price...

8 Christmas tree napkin holders...

The lady loved us and threw in a box of ribbon for free!

A sock darner and several pants hangers...

Christmas themed paper..

A set of blue and yellow napkins.  I don't think either set were ever used...

  

Several pot holders.  I love the sun bonnet ones...

More aprons.... 

Loads of doilies, embroidered table coverings, napkins, pillow cases and tablecloths...

How adorable is this pillowcase????

And finally a set of rooster dishes.  I'm hoping these will sell well at the booth...

We hit one other estate sale and netted this awesome Sunbeam Mixer....

A chair, desk with hutch and dresser to re-paint....

A pink Fiestaware pitcher, a cookbook holder, another pair of baby shoes and a picture frame...

That takes us to Sunday but since I haven't taken any pictures of that stuff yet, I'll have to save that for another post.  In the meantime I have plenty to keep me busy for the next week as I wash and iron everything, and then catalogue and tag everything.  

Hall Tree Re-Do

Last week we went to a garage sale and I picked up this awesome Hall Tree.  It was badly in need of repair though - the seat had been broken clean off the hinges and the wood was worn and scratched.  I couldn't wait to get it home and start working on it.

The entire piece got a quick sanding and then washed down...

The top panel originally had 6 mirrors inserted.  One of them was broken and we had to put on our thinking caps to figure out what to do about that.  Keep reading to find out what we ended up doing.  We also removed the 5 coat hooks and gave them a good cleaning....

The seat was in really bad shape - quite scratched and stained.  It took me longer to sand that out then it did the entire rest of the piece.

I was torn on what color to paint it - I had 2 Fusion colors that I really liked but in the end Bayberry won out!   I purchased this color last week at my new favorite shop - From Shabby to Fabby.  They supply paint through mail order as well as in-store, so if you're dying to try out Fusion paint, go check out their website.

I did 2 coats of the Bayberry and it covered beautifully...

 We re-used the original black hardware hooks....

Louie cut a piece of wood to fit inside one of the panels and I painted it with 2 coats of chalk paint to make a chalk board where one of the mirrors was missing....

We reattached the seat using new hardware...

Check out all that great storage....

I just love the Bayberry color and I will definitely be using it again in the future...

This little beauty is for sale in the Chicago area.  Contact me if you're interested.     SORRY ALREADY SOLD!

Tall Secretary Desk Re-Do

We've had this vintage secretary desk sitting in the garage, patiently waiting for it's turn to be refinished.   After we finished the cedar chest last week, we decided it was time to tackle the desk.

As you can see, it was in pretty bad condition.  I removed the framing behind the glass doors and pulled them out, along with the ugly broken wooden stencils that were attached to them...

 I found an old yellowed newspaper article in one of the drawers where someone had written in asking about the history of secretary desks.  It dated the desk to between 1920-1940.  .

So check out what is written on the back panel.  What do you think?  I'm guessing it was the 30th desk made in October of 1935.  Any other guesses?

You can easily see how worn and scratched up this desk was...

I removed all the hardware and started sanding everything down...

After everything was sanded I washed it all off with some soapy water and let everything sit outside all day in the sun to dry.  I've been reading a lot about Fusion paint and how nicely it works on furniture.  They have a marvelous and vibrant color selection and I was torn on what color to use.  I flip flopped between a couple of different choices and I finally chose Homestead Blue for this project.  I couldn't wait to try it out.  I located a retailer less than an hour from my house - From Shabby to Fabby and placed an order online.  Within days my paint was delivered along with a sweet note from Karri, the owner, and a coupon for 10% off on my next order.  Don't you just love personalized customer service??  

The Fusion paint covers really well and in most cases doesn't need a primer coat.  Due to the dark color of the original wood, I applied 2 coats of paint and I really liked the matte finish.  The paint dried fast and I was able to safely apply the 2nd coat within a few hours.  Considering that it was hot and humid when I tackled this project, I was really surprised at how quickly it did dry.

The inside of the desk, the shelves and the drawers all got a fresh coat of espresso colored stain and all the drawer pulls were soaked in vinegar and salt until they shined.  The glass got scrubbed down and carefully reinstalled into the doors.

The wooden organizer in the middle got a coat of stain as well and I glued a couple of pieces of felt on the bottom of it so it won't scratch the desk if it's moved....

I wish I had someplace better than my driveway to stage these photos because they really don't do justice to the beautiful blue color of this piece.

I thought the history of the desk was interesting, so I typed up an information sheet and included it in one of the drawers...

For sale in the Chicago area for $ 349.00.

Since I finished this piece, Louie and I have already driven out to From Shabby to Fabby so I could see all the paint choices on display in their showroom.  I was lucky enough to meet Karri in person and chat with her about Fusion paint and her adorable store.  If you're anywhere near the Winfield, Illinois area, you have got to stop and say hello.  In the meantime, if you'd like to try Fusion paint, you can order it direct from her.  Check out her FB page here.

Find FROM SHABBY TO FABBY at

27W460 Chicago Avenue  Winfield, Illinois 60190

630.417.2331

HOURS: 
Monday – Closed
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – 10am to 5pm 
Friday – 10am to 7pm
Saturday – 10am to 5pm
Sunday -11am to 5pm

Linking up with.....

68th Sweet Inspiration Link Party

Cedar Chest Re-Do

A couple of months ago I purchased a cedar chest off of someone on FB.  It was in pretty bad condition and usually I would have passed on something like this, but I really liked the shape of it.  All of the legs were loose and the hinges on the lid were broken off.  When we unloaded it from the car at home, we dropped the lid and it broke into 3 pieces.   Louie was disgusted before we even got it into the garage and I was kicking myself for buying it in the first place.  It sat in the garage for over 3 months because neither one of us wanted to even look at it.

Finally Louie told me we should start working on it or he was going to throw it out.  Well, that was all the incentive I needed because I had him put it up on my work table and we stared at it.  First we removed all the broken hardware...

Reattached and reinforced all the legs....

Refitted all the panels for the lid and attached everything.....

We installed new hardware and gave the inside of the chest a light sanding to help bring out the cedar scent.  After a quick wash down, I pulled out my favorite Zibra paint brush and mixed up a couple different shades of gray paint....

First I painted the entire chest with a pale gray and then gradually dry brushed darker shades of gray as I moved down towards the bottom of the chest....

Here's the finished chest!

For sale in the Chicago area for $ 165.00.  Dimensions are 40" x 18" x 24" tall.

Linking up with.....
68th Sweet Inspiration Link Party