Since I am still on vacation from work for a few more day, I decided to check out some local sales today. It was really, really HOT! One place, while I was shopping and holding a bowl that I planned to purchase, I could just feel the sweat running down my arm where the bowl was-ewww! It was 93 degrees and very humid.
As I was driving home, the sky got really dark and the temperature started dropping....in about 20 minutes it went down 20 degrees and then it poured!!! Whew! We needed it! Now it's kinda gloomy outside, no more rain, but it's only 73 degrees-nice!
This is what I found today...
A nubby (hobnail?) amethyst vase. It was just different enough, and the right shade of purple that I couldn't leave it behind.
Two very neat old wooden boxes with zinc straps.
Sharp Shooters dice game-we already have this game and like it a lot. This one is for my parents house-we always play a lot of games when we are up there. Have you tried this one Junque Magnet? I'll bet your family will like it! ;)
A clear glass cutting board-and it's a big one too!
A small orange enamel tea pot, and my final, last, never again (I hope) Pyrex yellow mixing bowl. I keep seeing individual bowls to this set at crazy low prices, so I pick them up---then it becomes an adventure to find the rest in the set. Now I only need the small blue bowl to finish this set, and hopefully sell it!
I've been Biz-ily soaking all of the stained vintage tablecloths I've picked up this summer. For the most part, I have been extremely happy with the results. Almost every single stain has come out. there is the one with the sharpie stains ( I don't even think straight bleach could fix those stains), but other than that, it is working great! It is really tough on your hands though-my hands are really dry and a couple of fingers are peeling-I keep forgetting to put gloves on-duh! Oh, well...I am down to just a few cloths left, and I'm glad I tried it!
I've been hanging them out on our deck rails to dry. Unfortunately, the ones out there right now, got an extra rinse in the rain!
The stains did lighten a little bit...I'm wondering if a Clorox pen (if they still make them), might work a little more.
These are "before" pictures of my most stained tablecloth...I have huge doubts, but we'll see...I really have nothing to lose since it is stained all over.
If it works, GREAT! If not, then no big deal. Most of these came from garage sales, and were priced anywhere from 25¢ to $1, or a couple dollars at most. That is why I am so thrilled that Biz has worked so far!
Tomorrow, I plan to visit a few local estate sales...I may have to make a huge sacrifice and visit one on Kevin's behalf since he is working...I know, I know, it's a big sacrifice to go to an estate sale, less than 10 miles away, but somebody has to do it-LOL! There is a sale that has a wood lathe, that he might be interested in, so being the loving wife that I am...I would go there for him-out of love-of course! ;)
Today, Auntie and I went to an amazing estate sale! The prices on some things were ridiculously high, on some things just right and some things they gave away-literally! I found the sale on estatesales.net and was very intrigued by the photos they showed. So we set the GPS, and off we went!
Walking up to the sale, we saw part of the sale was in the yard and driveway. The two outside workers told us the real sale was in the house and that the stuff out there wasn't worthy of being "in there". It was mostly old Tupperware-more than I have ever seen in one place before! There were a few other things, but we rushed past them to get inside, because through the window we could see lots of swanky swigs!! Which unfortunately, neither one of us bought any.
It was very overwhelming to say the least! The kitchen was jam-packed with all kinds of vintage and antique goodies! One thing that I got really irritated about was the lack of price stickers! It seemed to be an estate sale run by an entire family, but only one sister was allowed to tell you the prices. That got old really fast! She would look at an item, and (I think) look at you to see how much she thought you'd be willing to pay (or could pay) and then set a price. I heard her tell 3 different people 3 different prices on the same Pyrex mixing bowl set (because we were there for a while).
After I got home, I went back to the website to look up the name of the company hosting the sale, to try to avoid their sales in the future, but it wasn't listed. While we were there, I over heard one sister telling another shopper that they plan to turn the basement of the house into their antique shop, and maybe the whole house. That would kind of explain the "dealer's" prices (when she told you the price) on a lot of stuff.
It wasn't a frog of a sale by any means, just an awkward, teenage, pimply prince of a sale! We did find some great treasures (so it was definitely worth the drive), but you could tell their main motivation was to make as much money as they could, not just get what you can for it and get rid of the stuff-like most estate sales I've been to.
Here is what I added to my collections today:
This is everything in one shot. A vintage tablecloth, two purple transfer ware plates, two Pyrex casserole dishes with lids, 2 flower plates and 2 decks of cards (unopened) in a case. Hmmm...maybe I should have gotten 2 tablecloths to round out the theme of 2 that I didn't realize I had going on there! :)
I first picked up all of the plates (because they were half off) to "plant" in my flower garden, but...I'm thinking the purple ones will stay in the house. The other two will be "planted" in about ten minutes.
I bought the cards because they reminded me of my grandma on my dad's side. She always had cases (like these) of Canasta cards in her buffet cabinet top drawer in her dining room. I used to LOVE playing Canasta with her-even when she cheated!
Plus I love the vintage Fiesta colors look to them!
The Pyrex dishes are in wonderful shape! I've never seen this style before, so I was pretty excited to get them!
The tablecloth has a few light stains, but the head-price-giver sister told us to use a combination of powered Ivory Snow and Biz and really hot, hot water to soak stained linens in and the stains will come out. So now I bet you know what is on the top of my next grocery list-huh? What do you use to remove stains from vintage linens? How successful is it? Have you tried the Biz and Ivory Snow combo? Does it work?
While I was sitting here typing away about my treasure finds today, the UPS truck pulled up with a treasure I bought from shopgoodwill.com. My first bowl in the vintage turquoise (or aqua as I've seen the color called) Pyrex mixing bowl set!!! Now the hunt is on to locate the other three bowls-in great shape-and for a great price!
Part of me wants to say "shhh...don't tell anyone about shopgoodwill.com", so that the word doesn't get out and it becomes harder to get a good deal...but part of me wants to spread the word because it is for a charity. I've gotten two really good deals so far, and a third one is due to come sometime next week!!! Can't wait for it to arrive, and can't wait to show you!
How about you? How did your treasure-seeking go this weekend?
Next weekend, I am heading to Big Rapids for a graduation open-house for my cousin's daughter, and will be stopping at the Allegan Antiques Market (it is only the last Sunday of the month, April-September) with my mom. Then heading to the U.P. for more adventures with my parents at their house. Poor DH has to stay home and work.
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great weekend! Can't wait to see what treasures you found!
Well…today was the highly anticipated antiquing trip to Holly. What we were hoping would be a prince of a day…turned into a very creepy frog day!
It turned out to be a sleepy little town that on first glance, seemed to have lots interesting older homes and buildings downtown. We got a great parking spot, right across an alley from an historic hotel (which isn’t an operating hotel anymore, but a high scale restaurant). It had such a great exterior and was on a really cool little alley with a bunch of little shops, I couldn’t wait to explore!
As we got about 20 feet from the entrance to Arcade Antiques, Chicken’s Auntie, casually pops out with, “You know this place is haunted don’t you?” What? No, I hadn’t heard that…are you joking? She wasn’t joking! She went on to say that some people have even said they have felt what feels like the skirt of the woman that haunts the place to brush up against them when they are in the back rooms looking at the antiques. GREAT…now I really want to go in - - - not so much!
When we went in, it was a little different, but we kept going. The farther back we went, the darker and creepier it got. The lighting was really sparse, and the facades that they built for the outsides of the rooms that was I’m sure, meant to be charming, seemed to me, to be just plain creepy! The guy working there was very friendly, and fun to chat with, but I couldn’t get over the creepy feeling. I’m pretty sure, that even if Auntie hadn’t dropped that bombshell on me, I would have still felt it was creepy!
We walked to the end of the alley and out on to S. Saginaw and saw this really neat building across the street-I just had to take a quick snap of it! I didn’t even realize that I got the Holly Hills Primitives sign in the shot.
Our next stop was Holly Hills Primitives. It was a quick walk through for us. Neither of us are very big fans of primitives. I’m glad we stopped though, because you never want to wonder, if you missed your prince because you didn’t stop.
We walked across the street to Holly’s Main Street Antiques. It was quite a bit less creepy- brighter lighting, and more open spaces. When we went upstairs, a little boy (I am assuming he was either the son or grandson of the owner), came upstairs after we did, and hopped on an antique tricycle that was for sale, and was riding it around up there while we were shopping. It was kind of weird-in a creepy sort of way. We both thought the prices seemed very high, and neither of us ended up buying anything.
We asked the owner for advice on a good place to get lunch and he recommended the place next door called Bittersweet Café. It was a small little place with only about 10 or so tables, and what seemed to be a walk up counter with the menu on the wall behind the counter. We walked up to the counter, not sure if we should seat ourselves or order at the counter and take it to our seats ourselves. We stood there for a few minutes, with the workers buzzing around just to our left in the kitchen area. I know they all saw us, but no one made an immediate attempt to say hi, or try to help us. That should have been a clue as to what to expect…
When finally a waitress, (the only one in the building apparently) asked if we needed help, (after I’m assuming she overheard us asking each other if we just seat ourselves or if we order at the counter). She told us to seat ourselves and asked what we wanted to drink. After she brought our iced tea, she left and went to another table and stood and talked with them for quite a long while before she came back to take our order. Auntie got split pea soup and half a ham sandwich. I got a chicken quesadilla. We waited so long for the food to arrive, that we were wondering if they had forgotten us! When it came, it was pretty good but, I think we were both so hungry at that point, that it could have tasted like sawdust, and we would have still scarffed it down. Looking around, the café was a really neat older building with a tin ceiling, and exposed brick wall. The inside was pretty charming-and not creepy at all…too bad the service wasn’t that great.
When we left the café, we walked across the street, and for some reason, I forgot to take a snap of the outside of the next shop on our list (and now I can't even remember the name of it). It was a mixture of mostly new stuff with a handful of antique furniture thrown in. I took a snap of a patio set that I really liked. It had purple toile!!! I really loved the chaise, but it wasn’t for sale…bummer!
The next stop was the Holly Water Tower Antiques Mall. I had seen this place on line and was pretty excited to stop. Their parking lot was so tiny! I think it only had 6 or 7 spaces! When you first walk in, there are a lot of locked display cases. I was kind of bummed, because it has been my experience that the stuff in locked cases is usually priced way more than I want to spend. Plus, when I am shopping, I like to be able to pick the items up, look them over really good, hold them up the light, and just feel the weight and quality. If I go to a shop and see a lot of locked cases, I usually skip right by them.
There were a couple of things that caught our eyes…a Harlequin creamer, a chartreuse pitcher and a couple other small things, but in the end, we walked out without buying anything.
Our next stop was Balcony Row Antiques. It looked interesting from the outside. When we went in though, it was really creepy. It was very dimly lit, and was a very old building with lots of little rooms just filled with really old creepy stuff. They were playing really creepy classical music and I was glad I wasn’t in there alone! By the time we got about half way through, I was ready to go! The creepy-ness was getting to be too much for me. One little room we looked in even had a skull on the counter! I couldn’t wait to get out of there!
Off to Spinning Jenny’s Antiques in Clarkston. I wish I would have read the online review before we went! It was a small place, with stuff that looked like it had been there for a long time and prices that were really high - another frog in our search for our prince today.
We ended up being only about 5 miles from Dixieland Flea Market, and since Auntie had never been, and I knew the Fiesta lady was there... I kind of talked her into going. I figured what’s one more creepy stop on the creepy train!?! It fit it with the rest of the day’s stops quite well.
We saw some neat stuff, lots of people and actually liked the Betty Boop ladies room. I got a purple Pyrex mixing bowl set (that I think is actually called cranberry, but looks more purple than red to me) and a chartreuse Fiesta charger, and then it was time to head for home. We made a quick stop at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in WhiteLake, but didn’t find anything there either.
So…overall, I’d say it was a really ugly, creepy frog day! I think we need to find a prince and soon! If for nothing else than to chase the creepies away!
In keeping with our rating system (frog for not so great, and prince for great), today was an ugly, creepy frog day!
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