Chasing The Dream...House

When I head out for a morning of yardsaling, I'm usually hoping to recreate one of my golden thrifting experiences. This morning, my mind was on the Boy Scout sale.

Several years ago, I headed out into the far reaches of Rhode Island for a Boy Scout sale. I don't remember the exact month, but it was pre-yardsale season, and there was still frost on the ground. I remember heading out into the country, the roads empty, the hills rising in the distance, and the feeling of anticipation tingling through my fingers.

I drove perhaps a half hour (which in Rhode Island terms is like crossing the country) finally weaving my way through an old New England town to my destination. Inside some old VFW hall were ten tables or so piled with the usual junk. I wandered around, picked up a few items, and was getting ready to pay when I decided to circle one last time. As I perused the toy table, a hand decended to place down an original Barbie Dream House. My heart pounding, I grabbed it.

At the checkout line, the man in front of me was buying a small suitcase. He opened it and inside were all these vintage Barbie items. He just wanted the suitcase, so he offered me its contents. Then a middle-aged woman appeared at the checkout table. "I see you have the Barbie house. There's another identical one.  It belonged to my sister. Do you want it?" Does Barbie love pink? Bring it on. By the time I left, I had two Barbie Dream Houses, and a load of accessories.  Then the Dream House owner chased me down in the parking lot with another plastic container filled with more Barbie items. I spent $65, which for me, was a fortune.

I don't remember the return trip home. But I do remember the hours I spent pouring over my haul. There were early 1960s Barbie and Ken dolls, the original stands for the dolls, miniature catalogs of all the outfits so I could go through and compile what went together. These two sisters saved everything. There was a complete bridal outfit with bouquet, necklace and shoes, skiing outfits with skiis, poles and boots, and all the tiny cardboard record albums that went with the Dream House. I made several hundred dollars off that haul, but it's not the money I remember. It's the thrill of pouring through those tiny treasures and starting a foundation of vintage-Barbie knowledge.

I've never seen an ad for this sale again. But I think about it all the time. So several weeks ago, when I saw a posting on Craigslist for a Boy Scout troop sale, I made sure it would be my first stop of the day. Again, I travelled far from home to get to the sale, certain the Boy Scouts wouldn't let me down. Alas, nothing close to my dream house was there. Just a few Wilton cake decorating books and vintage Halloween candles for me. And once I arrived at my second stop of the day, a church sale much closer to home, I realized spot number two was a place I'd had success at before, but now I was late.

Oh well.  The dream lives on.  As does the chase. 

Here's some of what I did find this morning:

Two lovely mid-century Pyrex-like dishes for .50 cents a piece.

A very-70s embroidered owl to add to my daughter's wall of vintage animal-themed art. Paid .50 cents.

A vintage cake plate to replace the one I broke. Paid .50 cents.

It's Either Really Ugly, Or Worth a Lot of Money

I have a friend/neighbor who I call my "mentor".  He's a big-time yard-saler and really knows his antiques.  He's the kind of guy who arrives at the flea market at 5:30 a.m. with a headlamp and wellies.  It he sleeps in until 6:00, he won't go because all the good stuff is gone.  He once told me that when he spots a hideous piece, he takes a second look figuring it's either really ugly, or it's worth a lot of money.

These words of wisdom were with me on Thursday when I made a quick tour of the Salvation Army in North Providence.  I was empty handed when I spotted these (in my humble opinion) ugly slippers.  As soon as my eye passed them, I thought--they may be really ugly, but they could be worth a lot of money.  And they looked to be in good shape.  So I picked one up for closer examination.  Never heard of the brand "Stubbs and Wootton", but right beneath the brand name I see "Palm Beach".  Things are looking up.  And the shoes are new!  Not a sign of wear on either one.  But the price on the bottom says $12.99.  A bit much for me.  I punch  the brand name into my eBay Droid app and see several pairs selling for upwards of $100.  Then I look inside the shoes and find a yellow tag.  It's half price on all yellow tags, so I leave the Salvation Army with my pair of shoes for $6.50.

Once home, I google Stubbs and Wootton.  There's my exact pair of shoes "Osiris Blue" for $395!  I have a new appreciation for these ugly shoes.  And thank you mentor!

The Lord Has Appeared

 I just had to share these!  Found them this morning at the Salvation Army for 99 cents each.  In case you can't tell from the photos, they are vintage (probably from the 50s) Paint By Numbers.  Not in the best shape, but in my humble opinion, that just adds to their fabulosity.

Meat on the Bone

Baking seemed to be the theme of this weekend's ThrHaul.  I found a bag of plastic cookie cutters at Saver's for $3.19 and there were quite a few collectibles inside including the Wilton Batman set shown above.  A similar set recently sold for $30. The Wilton clowns shown below were also in the bag.

I also scooped up a vintage Wilton 3-D Wedding Bell cake pan for $3.19.  Already flipped it for $19.95. 

As I perused the aisles of Saver's I kept thinking of an episode of American Pickers I just watched. If you haven't seen the show, you should check it out. It's on the History Channel, but I also watch it on Hulu.  Anyway, in this particular episode Mike was looking through a bunch of stuff and commenting that he couldn't pay the prices because he's a "picker" and he needs to have "meat on the bone" so that he can sell his pick and still make some coin.  So this was my mantra as I thrifted last weekend "meat on the bone." And it helped me pass by a nice L.L. Bean coat for $9.99 and a beautiful pair of girl's cowboy boots from Nordstrom for $14.99.  Not sure if there was enough margin for me to make a buck.  I'm fairly confident, however, that there was enough meat on the Nanette Lepore dress I paid $4.99 for.  It goes to auction on Sunday.  Will keep you posted...

Retail. How it hurts!

Just returned from vacay, and am pleased to say I was finally able to stick my toe in the water of the L.A. thrift scene. More like a toenail, really.  My sister and I checked out this Estate Sale in Brentwood (hard to make out the sign above, but I did my best).  We were there on day 2, so pickings were slim.  But it was still fun.  Overpriced, but fun.  There was a sculpture (ugly) for sale for $7,500.  Cash only.  Who carries cash like that? Even in Brentwood?

I did manage to pick through the leftovers and retrieve these books.  And they only charged my 30 cents a piece! 

All in all, the scene was quite similar to any professionally run estate sale I've been to, with the exceptionof one upscale touch.  Right next to the checkout lady was a tray of FREE microwave popcorn packs that read "Thanks for Popping In."  I would have preferred a mint.  But it was a nice touch.

I also dragged my sister into two thrift shops.  I shouldn't say dragged, she went willingly.  We didn't find anything, but we didn't spend much time perusing either.  I give my sister credit--she tried.  But it annoyed her that a Banana Republic blouse was on the "Designer" rack.  And the smell was not the usual fragrance samples she's used to at Bloomingdales. 

So on to retail.  My girls were itching to go shopping with Auntie, and as Auntie only has boys, she was itching to go shopping with them as well.  As suggested above, Auntie's haunts trend more toward Neimans than Savers, , so we found ourselves at an upscale boutique in Brentwood just for girls and teen girls.  A store chock full of more party dresses than I have seen in an entire mall along with a full assortment of Stars of David necklaces, so after you've purchased the dress for the Bat Mitzvah you can buy the birthday girl a meaningful gift as well. 

Auntie convinced my eldest (who is 11) that her normal track-pant attire was not L.A. chic, so daughter #1 insisted on buying not one, but three pairs of leggings.  Actually, one was a pair of "jeggings" (jean leggings), another was a pair with pleather stripes down the sides, and the last was basic black.  I believe one pair was on sale, the rest were full retail.  And because eldest would now be wearing leggings, not track pants, she needed suitable shirts.  And a jacket.  I don't think I've spent as much on her clothes in a year as I did in one day shopping in L.A.

But the real kicker was when we got home.  Eldest tried on her new jeggings with a longish tee and then said "you know mom, I just don't think leggings are me.  But, I thought I'd give it a try."

Next time, she will be trying with a $3 pair from Savers.  They may have a small hole in need of repair, or a few stray cat hairs from someone elses cat, but when she realizes they are not for her, they can go right back to Savers.  For someone else.  And I will be out $3, instead of--I can't even say how much.

Sticker Mania

Found these odd stickers at the Salvation Army this morning.  29 cents.  I'm not familiar with the Glomps from the 80s.  But I am familiar with selling vintage stickers for a boat load. 

A few years back I was scouring a garage sale and came across some unopened packs of Scratch n' Sniff stickers.  I scooped up all the packs they had (there were also some puffy stickers) figuring there can never be too many stickers in a house with young children.  I paid about 25 cents a pack.  When I checked on eBay later that day, I found that people were buying these stickers.  One of my packs sold for around $50.  Not sure the Glomps will do as well, but for 29 cents, I figured I'd take the risk.

Which leads to what I was going to post last week, but time got away from me.  Here are a few of my recent sales of items I've mentioned here.

The vintage flower loom lot I bought for $3.19, sold for $21.26.
The vintage Daisy Loom with patterns I bought for $1 sold for $22.
The vintage Boye Knitting Needle Kit I bought for $7.61 sold for $29.00.
The Patagonia Snowsuit I bought for $4.99 sold for $31.
The Minnetonka Moccasins I bought for $8.99 sold for $22.

And here's another cute Paint-by-Number I picked up today for my daughter's collection.  $1.99.  Sweet.

Oh Happy Day!

The new Saver's opened!  Hurrah!  I could actually walk to it if I wanted to, but will never do so as that would mean I would have to haul my bounty all the way home on foot.

The Saver's on Branch Ave in Providence opened on Thursday.  The same day the Nor' easter hit. But I was not about to let a snow day make me miss the Grand Opening.  It wasn't until after lunch that I was able to motivate the kids to head out with the promise of a $10 spending allowance each.  I was a bit concerned that we missed our window of oppotunity--an empty store during those early hours of digging out from the storm--but figured we'd still have the store pretty much to ourselves. 

How wrong was I!  There was a line to get into the parking lot, a police officer pretending to direct traffic in the lot, and no place to park.  I was so discouraged I suggested we turn around and try another day.  But the girls were not about to forego that $10 so easily.  So we forged on and found a spot.

Meanwhile, there were people with bags loaded full of stuff streaming out of the store.  What could be left?  What had we missed?

In a matter of less than an hour, I managed to spend close to $100, so that should give you some idea of how much was left.  This was truly a GRAND opening.  Saver's must have flown in employees for the event.  I haven't had so many offers for assistance at Nordstrom. 

So what did I buy?

My best find was a girl's North Face down 3/4 coat for $12.99. Normally more than I'd pay at Saver's, but this was really a steal.  The coat is in perfect shape except that it's missing the hood.  Will save it for my younger daughter. I also found several Mini Boden dresses ($3.99 and $5.99), a Hanna dress ($4.99), an L.L. Bean girl's winter jacket ($6.99), and various clothes the girls picked out including a leotard, two hoodies, and a dress.

Then I found some crafts including these looms...

The flower looms (photo on top) were $2.99.  The Crazy-Daisy Winder was in a bag for ($2.99) which also included a Weave Easy Hand Loom and a set of Magic Looms.  All now up on eBay!

We then headed to the toy section and scooped up a few games and several vintage puzzles including these two 1957 TUCO puzzles ($1.99 each).

I also picked up a Wilton Tasmanian Devil cake pan ($2.99), vintage Koala painting ($2.99) and a few other items.  And that was without perusing the entire adult clothing section.  I will definitely be back--once the crowds die down!

I'm going to try to start posting twice a week--once with what I've found (or my ThrHaul) and once with recent sales I've made on eBay.  So look for a second posting later this week!