March Madness Sale!

Hey Michigan junk hunting buddies!

Antiques Market of Williamston  is having their annual March Madness sale!!! Not sure yet if I am going-I love their sales and haven't missed very many over the years...check it out!

I got this in an email today, and thought I'd share -in case you are near the Williamston Antique Mall and might want to go too!

You are invited to our annual Christmas Extravaganza.  

Saturday December 1st  10 to 6

Food,  Fun, Discounts!!!

Enjoy 20% discount all day long.

2991 Williamston Rd.

Williamston, MI 48895

Located 11 miles east of Lansing, MI

1/4 mile north of I-96

exit 117

phone (517) 655-1350

March Madness Sale at Williamston Antiques!!!

Mark your calendar!!! Don't miss it!!!

The last couple of years I've gotten some great treasures at the March Madness Sale!!! The buffet is awesome too!!!

Christmas Open House!

Next Saturday is the Antique Market of Williamston's annual Christmas Open House! Looks like there will be 4 or 5 of us going this year! We've been going for several years and always enjoy this open house and the summer one too! If you haven't been to Williamston, or if it's been a while, this is a great time to go!

We plan to get there right at 10, so if you're going to be there around the same time, send me an email and maybe we can shop together!

Moonlight Madness Sale...

Just thought I'd pass this on to my Michigan friends. Williamston Antiques is having a moonlight madness sale!

I'm thinking about going...let me know if you're going, I'll look for you!

Friday Fix

Finally there were some promising looking estate sales within decent driving distance! It has been pretty sparse around here lately, I was almost starting to go through withdrawals from not getting a vintage thrifting fix for a while.

Luckily for me, there were three pretty good sales today. One was in Sterling Heights, one in Hamtramck and one in Ferndale. Auntie and I met early and planned to be in line at the Sterling Heights sale a half an hour before it was scheduled to open. When we got there, we saw lots of cars lining the street, but no line! They actually started earlier than they advertised and were letting people in. It was great because I sure wasn't looking forward to standing out in the cold for at least a half an hour!

It was a very dirty house. I found a covered refrigerator dish that was so dirty, the dirt looked like paint! I forgot to take a before picture to show you how bad it was-I was just so anxious to get the grime off of it, I didn't even think about taking pictures. It cleaned up pretty good, and doesn't have any chips-just a little scratching on the lid (probably from all the dirt).

I got a box of small old ornaments for $1. I looked at them in the dingy basement and they looked fine. When I got home in my bright kitchen-they look not so good. There are more tarnish spots than I was expecting.

I picked up this little juice glass-not sure if it is an official Swanky Swig or not, and a never used, in the package vintage flat sheet and a couple of pillowcase sets. I like to use flat sheets to spread out in the back end of my car to keep the carpet from getting stuff on it, and this one is bright and cheery-I'm excited to open the back end and see it!

Then we headed to the sale in Hamtramck-boy do I feel bad for making this one second on our list! Poor Auntie-she really wanted to go to this one because it looked really good online, and I chose for us to visit the other one first-sorry Auntie!

This was part regular estate sale, and part digger sale. As we were going in we saw lots of vintage tablecloths  going out-WAHHH! We did manage to find a couple of tablecloths each and a couple kitchen towels each-so we sorta got our fix, but we missed out on some great ones, I'm sure!

In the house they were burning some sort of incense that was ugh-probably one of the worst flowery smells I've ever smelled! I still can't get that smell out of my nose! Out in the garage there were boxes and bags and bins full of stuff to dig through-and dig we did! It was fun, but dirty! I also picked up this folding ruler for $1-now to just find a place to hang it...

The last sale of the day was in Ferndale. I found a small embroidered square tablecloth, and that was all for me. It was fun to be out and about today visiting estate sales and catching up with Auntie-it's been a few weeks since we've been to any sales.

Tomorrow we are going to Williamston and Howell for the two antique mall open houses I mentioned in an earlier blog post. It looks like 3 other ladies from work will be joining us-how fun! After paying estate sale prices, it is hard to even imagine going in to an antique shop to buy anything...it never hurts to look...and it's always fun to hang out with friends! We have a first time antiquer going with us, so it should be fun to see her reaction to things, and what she finds intriguing.

If you live close enough to Williamston and Howell, you should check these sales out! You might even bump into our group-we'll be the ones looking at vintage Fiesta, jadeite, vintage table linens, vintage Christmas, LuRay, and anything out of the ordinary that catches one of our eyes. We'll probably be laughing a lot too! :)

I can't wait for Saturday!!!

I am sooo looking forward to Saturday! I am going to 2 antique mall open houses with Auntie and some friends from work.

We'll be going first to Williamston Antiques Mall and then Livingston Antiques Outlet. What are your plans for Saturday? Wanna join us? We always have lots of fun and LOTS of laughs!

Mark your calendar!

There are a couple of sales coming up at local antique malls-mark your calendar now, so you don't miss out!

Oh no! I just realized something!

The final Antiques Festival in Midland is on the same day as the Midnight Madness at Williamston Antiques!!! I don't know if I'll have the energy to visit Williamston after visiting 1000+ vendors in Midland! Bummer!

There is less than a month until the last Michigan Antique and Collectible Festival in Midland, Michigan!

September 25-26

Then we will have to wait all winter again to be able to go again in June!! 

This is their 42nd year. It is held only 3 times a year at the Midland County Fairgrounds.

Saturdays 8am-6pm

Sundays 8am-4pm

Auntie and I went in June with another friend (Pam) from work and Eric. It was a lot of fun-and a lot of walking! Can't wait to go back-I'm counting down the days!!

Yesterday's and Today's Treasures...

I went out yesterday to a few garage and estate sales, but the pickin's were mighty slim for treasures or bargains. I didn't end up going to that estate sale with the wood lathe for Kevin, he is looking for one he can turn really big bowls on and that one wasn't big enough.

One estate sale in my hometown, didn't exist! I put the address in my GPS and when I got there, I didn't see any signs or cars or treasures. So I kept on putzing around to some sales I found in the paper and on Craigslist that looked promising. Except they were lot less than I would have thought from how the ads were worded.

I got the plates (to plant in my flowerbed) the top hankie and the bottle (maybe my dad can use it when he makes his syrup?) all for $1.25.

The dishtowel and other hankies I got today at the estate sale that didn't exist yesterday. I'll explain that in just a minute...

Today was the summer open house at Williamston Antiques. Auntie and I have been going for years-I think since the very first one. Its a fun atmosphere with a giant tent in the parking lot with a bunch of vendors selling outside, a tent where they are grilling hot dogs that you get for free along with a bag of chips, and you can choose either iced tea or lemonade. the next little tent over has a big popcorn machine and cans of soda and bottles of water-all also for free! They usually have a couple of tables set up under the trees where you can relax and enjoy the freebies and the weather. Once you go inside, everything is 15% off.

This year, they  had an additional tent with a lot of items waiting to be auctioned off at 4pm. Since we wanted to get there early (9:15am) to find the best treasures and bargains under the vendor tent, we were hoping we weren't going to regret missing the auction later in the day. Although we did walk through the auction tent, we didn't really find anything we would be bummed to miss. It was  mostly furniture and a few dishes and smalls-whew! That would really be a bummer to see all kinds of treasures set aside for the auction, knowing you would have to miss it!

I didn't buy anything inside, I got a couple of things outside...

 A couple of easels for plates (not old), and a vintage tablecloth-$5 for all.

After we left, we checked out another antiques shop in Williamston, and hit a couple of garage sales on the way home. When I got home, I checked my email and there was another email from Estatesales.net, with upcoming sales in my area. I noticed the local sale was still on there, but it had a different street name...hmmm that's why I couldn't find it yesterday! So Kevin and I hopped in the car and headed out. It was in a nice condo community and the woman whose house it was had some really nice antiques! I just drooled over her 1930's oak china cabinet, and dry sink with towel bar-but they were wayyy out of my price league. I wonder if they will have prices half off tomorrow....

I wasn't very impressed with the company running the estate sale. Their signs were elegant, but hard to see and read. If it weren't for my GPS, we would have missed it today too. They also used a pricing gun that was almost out of ink. All the price stickers were so light and hard to read-that when you picked up an item that you thought was $6, and looked at it in the light, at just the right angle, you realized it was actually $60.

For the most part, I thought their prices were high. There was still a LOT of things left for what I would expect for a second day. I found a vintage dishtowel and the other hankies in the top picture. At first she said the hankies were $1 each-so I said what's the best price you can give me on them, and she went down to 50¢ each. Not everything was marked either, and that ALWAYS makes me crazy because I get the feeling that the dealers are looking you over to see what you can or would pay rather than setting a price with a price tag from the beginning that would be the same no matter what you look like or are wearing. Maybe it's a good thing I usually wear t-shirts and jeans or shorts on the weekends-LOL!

As were were driving home, I told Kevin I think my dream job would be that of a picker of sorts (going to all the sales loading up on the bargain treasures to either resell myself or have someone else resell) and being my own boss in an estate sale business. I've done tons of garage sales, my own and for family and friends, and with all the sales I hit, I think I have a pretty good idea of good prices and how to display items, as well as advertising and signage. Plus, I know what I like and don't like about estate sales,and think that I'm probably not alone in those opinions...is it time for a major career change...hmmm? Or is it just being off work for 2 weeks and dreading going back to the piled up work?

The Antiques Market of Williamston had postcards advertising a Moonlight Madness Sale in September. It seems weird to talk about September, but when you think about it, it is only a month and a half away!

Looks like FUN! I bet we end up going!!

March 20th...

Mark your calendars!

March 20th is the next open house for the Williamston Antiques Market! They always make their open houses fun with lots of yummy food, great discounts, and actual dealers on the premises to answer your questions!

So far, it looks like 4 of my co-workers will be making this antique trip with me! What about you? Will you be there?