Thursday, October 11, 2012

My Favorite Finds: Garage Sales


Along with several Hot Wheels and random trinkets my kids picked up over the summer, I found a great variety of treasures at garage / yard sales this summer.


I picked up lots of vintage dictionaries this summer. Including My First Picture Dictionary above. It is filled with illustrations that are so charming. Some of the pages are loose from the binding, so I may use them to decorate the kids' playroom.


This massive, unabridged Webster's dictionary published in 1950 was a huge hit with my son.

Yes, I am aware that this is not completely normal. :)

But look at this baby - can you blame him?

It is in very good shape for it's age. 

No missing pages, as far as I can tell. 

But it has 2006 pages of definitions alone, that doesn't include all the amazing book plates and over three hundred pages in the appendix.



 The illustrations of all the states and continents is really cool. They would look great framed, but I don't want to tear this guy apart for the sake of wall art. Only if it was falling apart on its own.


This heavily painted ladder was bought for $1.00 at the garage sale of an elderly man (90+ years). He was a carpenter and built this himself. He had all sorts of fabulous treasures. The ladder has at least 3 more colors of paint under this green. 



These drawers (presumably from a sewing machine?) were used in his workshop out back to store hardware and odds and ends. I couldn't pass them up. I think these would look great cleaned up and painted.

I found more drawers from his workshop with makeshift dividers. I actually got all 6 - each one has at least one divider added. These are much bulkier than the petite drawers above. I love their paint color as it is, a sort of blue-green grey.


This sweet reindeer was found with 4 others. It is about 30" tall. The others each have wooden stakes attached. The gentleman cut them out himself and his wife painted them. When he saw that I wanted the lot, he went to the back of his workshop and dug out his pattern - the original cut out piece of wood - and gave it all to me for free. {Not that I didn't try to pay him.} 



The turquoise Smith-Corona with case shown at the top of this post and here was found under a coffee table on the last day of a sale. It was closed up and I don't think anyone had noticed it was there. I got it for a steal! It's in great shape and the ribbon still works.



This mini bundt pan had a great patina. I got it for 50 cents. I plan on using it to store bits and pieces in my craft room. I don't think I want to scrape off all it's character, so I will probably line it with paper cups or doilies.


My keyplates from in this previous post were all found at one garage sale. I was picking and choosing which ones I wanted to pay for when the man said he'd make me a deal if I took them all. Um, OK! :)

One of my absolute favorite finds of the summer was the Replogle Globe. I found this one at the same garage sale as the ladder. The coloring is in a gorgeous pale palette. I used it in my Back to School vignette. It is currently on top of my bookcases in the family room for all to see. 

This post is getting pretty long - I may have too many favorites. I think I'll split them up into 2 posts.

Until then... tell me

Do you like shopping at garage sales? Admittedly, many are more gar(B)age sales than hidden treasures. But every now and then, finding the diamond in the rough is so fun! 

What's your favorite garage/yard sale find? I'd love to know!

24 comments:

  1. Hello fellow garage sale addict :) I cam across your blog from Not Just a Housewife. I love the ladder and doors... and door plates... and globe.. and just EVERYHTING you found :)

    Newest Follower,
    Katie - SomethingToBeFound.com

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  2. Good hunting! The keyplates were an awesome find!

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  3. Fabulous finds, Dori! You had a successful summer for sure! I would be thrilled to find most of these treasures (although I know they would generate a big eye roll from my husband!) Thanks for sharing!

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  4. My favorite posts are of garage sale finds. I love the keyhole plates and the drawers. So glad I stopped in from Tuesdays Treasure!

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  5. Hi - fantasic stash of stuff!! I love the things you found at the elderly gentleman's estate sale. They are the best garage sales, aren't they. And I love those key plates - so jealous.

    You gave me a great idea for a blogpost - so thanks! I didn't do a lot this summer - but I finally found an antique typewriter (I think it's from around 1911)and a vintage little girl's chair. On the web I was able to buy a antique baby bassinette from Belgium and at the NY Gift Show I scored several antique bowling balls (and a bag) - and 3 antique documents from the 1800s that were framed beautifully.

    Hope you will come visit my blog as well. I found you on Savvy Southern Style.

    Thanks,

    Linda

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  6. I love a good find! That teal typewriter is gorgeous. I'm sure you were super excited about one!

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  7. Awesome finds! I found a cousin to your turquoise typewriter this year. I just love those things. I think my favorite garage sale find was a porcelain topped kitchen cabinet. It was cheap and still in original condition and looks great in my kitchen.

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  8. Love the typewriter, we actually purchased one at a yard sale as well in the exact same color, I've still not had the heart to put it in our booth. And sewing drawers are always so useful and pretty!

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  9. That typewriter is exactly like one I had! Love all of your finds - great stuff!

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  10. I would love to find drawers and key-plates like that . . . congratulations on a great day of junking. I take my hat off to you and crown you today's Junking Queen. Have a sweet weekend, Connie :)

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  11. Hi again! Saw your comment on my blog -- yeah, I'm worried about crossing over into hoarders status as well! I currently have half the garage filled as well as half the basement. Yikes! I am definitely considering an etsy shop but am just concerned about the amount of time it will take for photos, price research, posting, selling, packing, shipping, etc.! And to be honest, I have a hard time selling this stuff because I LOVE all of it! But, I gotta get rid of some of it! I told myself I'd give it a go this winter -- start small and see how I like it. How about you?

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  12. Oh one more thing -- I went to a sale today and got a vintage turquoise/green tonka truck similar to the one you have!!! It's in terrible shape, but still soooooooo cute. I'll post pics this week.

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  13. Love this stuff!

    Very cute style...would love to have you join my link party this weekend if you'd like:

    http://westernwarmth.blogspot.com/2012/10/weekend-warmth-5.html

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  14. Great finds! I'm stopping by from Western Warmth.

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  15. Oh my goodness!! What amazing finds! I would love those! I love the ladder and all of the drawers! http://moresisterstuff.blogspot.com/

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  16. Thanks for the tip about the Webster's Dictionary. I am going to start looking for that. One of my favorite things is church rummage sales that have lots of books. I have been able to buy huge expensive atlases for $10. One of my favorites even has the village closest to Mt.Everest. The names of the countries might change, but the land still stays the same. I love maps. Ann

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  17. Great finds. I love sewing machine drawers and globes.

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  18. Awesome! I am so jealous. love the sewing machine drawers

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  19. Hi Dori, love your finds, especially the keyplates which I use in my artwork. See future posts of mine, I will be featuring the one I found. I'm just stopping by to say how delightful your blog is. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/

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  20. Hi there!!! I just wanted to pop over and let you know that I featured your vintage pumpkins over at my new blog today, We {share} Creativity! Today is our first day of posts and we decided to feature YOU! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with all of blog land. :) Here is a link to the post if you'd like to see. :)

    http://weshare-creativity.blogspot.com/2012/10/pumpkin-week-day-one-vintage-pumpkins.html

    XOXO

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  21. Gosh, you've really found some great stuff!

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  22. I loooove garage sales! You find way cooler things than I do though. I'm jealous, I won't lie!

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  23. Thanks for sharing on Simple & Sweet Fridays.

    Jody

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