Book Sale Time!

The local library was having its annual “Friends of the Library” book sale and I convinced the BF to go up there with me last week. I almost went on Thursday, when it was $5 admission, but decided to wait until Friday morning. Supposedly books were priced at $.50 for hardcovers and $.25 for paperback books, but that wasn’t necessarily true.

The book sale was in a little building that looked fairly disappointing from the outside. I went to one of these sales before and only purchased a few books, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Outside were several signs, saying that teen/young adult/kids books were $4 per bag, so I got a little more excited.

Immediately the BF got distracted by a stack of CDs priced at $.50 each. The sale had two different rooms. The first room was all fiction books and media. The back room was divided into two separate spaces. One space had “special” books that had individual price tags and the other side had non-fiction and kid books.

I filled one bag full of books for my other blog and had the BF pay for those, while I kept looking. One of the women working there had an eagle eye on everyone, making sure no one put the special books in the bags. She told us we could put anything from the back room in one of the bags, except for the special books, despite what the sale signs said.

I filled a second bag full of kid books, a few Peanuts books and a few cookbooks. I had that bag so full that they charged me for a single bag, but then broke it down into two bags! Up front where we paid though, they were sticking to the original signs and asking if you had anything non-kid related in your bags.

We ended up with two (technically three) bags full, four CDs, a few hardback books that didn’t fit into the bags and a few of the special edition books for $12. All told, I think I ended up with close to 100 books, including a ton of teen books. I also found the Esquire cookbook/party book from the 60’s and a book detailing the history of Disney and Mickey Mouse, plus a cookbook just on cooking for lunchboxes. That one deserves a post of its own!

I also grabbed a few books on architecture and historic preservation. I may not use my historic preservation degree anymore, but I love reading/learning about it. All of the books are now sitting in piles around the living room floor until we figure out what to do with them.

The Most Expensive Thrift Store in the World!

Would you pay $25 for a jadeite mixing bow? How about $80 for a fur coat? What about $150 for a fake antique rocking chair? Or $10 for a modern Mickey Mouse poncho for kids? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I have the store for you!

I know most of the blogs I read have a story about an expensive thrift store and I thought I’d share mine. This is actually a community owned/run thrift store and in the past I got some great deals there. Once I found a couple early 80’s Cabbage Patch dolls, with the original clothes and shoes still on. I think I only paid $1 tops for each one and I actually think it was more like 50 cents. Yeah, no big deals found this time.

This is one of those thrift stores where everything is jumbled on shelves, but kind of organized, like housewares in one section, clothing in another, crafts, toys, tools, etc. In the cookware section I found a piece of Pyrex that I didn’t have. It still had the lid and it was taped shut (as in a set), but the lid was one price and the bottom another price. They actually had one of the old tray things too, but that was taped together with some cheap aluminum piece and priced at some insane price. I’m thinking it was $10!

The thing that pissed me off the most is that this “thrift store” has its own antique section! As if the prices on regular things weren’t enough. The BF found a trunk he loved, priced at $150. I found a great mid-century modern hutch/buffet, but the buffet was $250 and the hutch on top was another $250. A fake provincial couch was something like $200 too.

This is a store where anything and everything is thrown on the shelves. Half-empty cans of cleaning products and house paint mingled on shelves, like some bad yard sale. I also think someone is sitting in the back with an outdated price guide because that’s the only explanation I can think of for some of the pricing.

My dad’s been in the flea market business for years and I saw “collectible” glasses that flea markets can’t give away anymore, priced at $3-5. I’ve literally seen dealers marking these glasses down to 50 cents, just to get rid of them! Plus the BF saw a few camo pieces priced higher than the specialty stores sell them!

I did pick up a few kid books, including one featuring a Care Bear that I love (I think I’m obsessed with the one with a moon on his chest!). That’s when I ventured into the antiques section. This is where they take the old crafting/home improvement/decorating magazines that most sell for less than a dollar and price them up. I didn’t see a single one for less than $8. It’s also where the jadeite bowl was, plus a lot of other stuff that made me shake my head.

The thing that put me over the edge was when I saw an old 50’s formica and chrome table and chairs. I’ve wanted a set like this for years now and I think I actually gasped when I saw it. It was a darker color than I’d like and wasn’t in the best shape, but it was still pretty cool. The price tag read $250. Are you kidding me? That’s more than Craigslist sellers and antique stores are asking around here! I dropped the books on the table, found the BF and walked right out of the store.

Oh and on the way out, I noticed the “glass cases” up front. This is where they take old toys and mark the prices up higher than eBay. I saw one board game priced at $40 that another thrift store had for $3.50 a few days later. The odd thing is that this thrift store is close to at least three others, all with much cheaper prices. There were people in there and they were buying, but I just can’t justify spending that kind of money in a thrift store!

*Sigh*

So yesterday the BF and I decided to hit a few thrift stores, just for the fun of it. I know a lot of people say they avoid the shops early in the week because they're so picked over from the weekends. I didn't anticipate finding anything, so I thought it was a safe bet. Little did I know that I'd find too much and have no way to get it home!

We're currently driving my dad's car, as the Explorer bit the big one (really big one, as in costs more to fix it than to replace it!). The gas mileage is great, but it doesn't have a lot of room to store anything or bring anything home. As soon as we get there, the BF immediately goes for the clothes and I immediately head to the housewares. No Pyrex on this trip and no vintage Tupperware either. What's going on here?

Turns out that the Salvation Army completely cleaned out the toys section and replaced it with Halloween goodies. The toys were moved to the kitchen area and all/most of the cookware/dishes/misc. stuff was moved off the floor. Nice. I thought the Halloween stuff was pretty overpriced and a woman there definitely agreed. She was looking at a little pumpkin ceramic box and gasped. "I just bought this same one at Target for $2.99 and it had a lid. They want $2.99 here and it doesn't even have the damn lid!" I had to chuckle.

Since my usual areas were duds, I ventured into the furniture department. The green velvet couch we fell in love with a few weeks ago is sadly gone now, but they've gotten a lot of new donations. I found this awesome drafting desk for $8 that needed some work and a super cute MCM style nightstand/end table for $5 that needed more work than I could probably put into it.

Then I found this gorgeous 1950's light green dresser, made right next to where I used to live in Indiana! It was only $50 and in pretty good shape. Did I mention we don't have a dresser?

Actually we have two dressers (3 if you want to get technical). When we moved into our new place, we didn't have a dresser and with 3 closets, didn't think we needed one. Then I started thinking about where to store/display stuff in the bedroom (like the TV). I have a dresser at my parent's house that was my grandpa's and we always planned on picking it up from there, but then the car died. My dad found one at a yard sale pretty cheap that's similar to the one I have (it's around 6' long), but he has no way to get it to us and I haven't even seen it! I also have one from the 40s/50s that was given to me, but that's another story.

I also discovered three chairs that I immediately wanted to stuff in the back of the car. Two were these industrial style office chairs, with metal bases and green vinyl coverings, pretty similar to ones my dad used. Price tag? $4.99 each! Then there was the wardrobe chair from the 50s, with its own $4.99 tag.

The BF talked some sense into me, by pointing out that we have no room for any more chairs. True, but disappointing. On the way home, I realized that I need a desk chair and the wardrobe chair would have fit perfectly in the closet! I'd love to go back and grab them, but I'm sure they're long gone by now. I'll probably brood over those chairs until I find one at a yard sale lol.

On the way out, I got distracted by some dining room hutches that were a little too pricey for my tastes (over $200), when I heard a gasp. Usually when the BF gasps, it's over something stupid, like a skull tee-shirt or a bulldog statue. This time is was over a piece of furniture. An antique dresser from the 1920s (or even earlier). It still had the original mirror attached and all of the drawers opened easily. The original tag was $250, but it was half-priced. He was so in love with it that he was contemplating calling a friend and asking if we could borrow his truck! Don't get me wrong, it was a nice dresser, but I much preferred my cheaper and cooler version a few feet away.

Stay tuned for my next story! It's of a pricey thrift store that looks, smells and acts like a thrift store on the inside, but prices things like an antique store. Anyone for a $25 jadeite bowl?

Apartment Picking

Once upon a time, I had a horrible neighbor. I’m not going to go into details, but suffice to say that when she was finally evicted (after something like six months of not paying rent!), we were more than a little excited. She called the landlord a few days after moving out and said the place just needed a quick clean and anything she left behind could be tossed/given away, she didn’t really care.

The landlord decided the best course of action was to let the neighbors go through the apartment and see if there was anything they wanted. Before I go any further, let my clarify by saying that there were only five apartments. We lived up above an old store.

So one day he comes over and unlocks the door. The BF and I went over and Oh. My. God. First of all, imagine a hoarder living in a two bedroom apartment and you’ll have some idea of what this place looked like. Every single room was stacked with piles of stuff: piles of clothes, piles of dishes, piles of beauty products and just random piles. Before moving out, she sold her couch, bedroom set and some other things, so she and her child were sleeping on the floor in carved out little nooks.

Then we had to deal with out neighbors. This was like an estate sale gone wild, but with free junk. Two people (a man and a woman) in particular were grabbing stuff and just throwing it in bags. It didn’t even matter if it was stuff they needed or wanted. The BF is kind of skinny and these two were decidedly…not. They kept grabbing clothes that he liked and throwing it in garbage bags of their own, but only when he commented on something.

I can kind of understand the kids clothes because they take care of a little boy and he could probably use the clothes. But come on, taking a size Medium/Large jacket, when the guy is….nowhere near a size Medium/Large? We decided to leave the bedrooms and just see what else was there.

I saw this really cool DVD rack that had I known she had, I would have offered to buy it from her earlier. I started to grab it and another neighbor popped up. “I already told my ex-girlfriend she could have that.” I reached for something else and then another thing and another…all were hers. Of course she hadn’t actually seen any of this stuff, but she wanted it for some reason.

We then ventured into the kitchen and found a Coleman cooler in really good shape that’s bigger than ours. We go camping fairly frequently in the summer and ours just isn’t big enough. Started to grab that, only to have yet another person turn up and claim it. Turns out that it was a guy who used to live in the building and one of the neighbors told him about the “free sale” so he just randomly showed up and started grabbing things. I explained why we needed it and he claimed that he needed it just as bad. The kicker came later when I found the lid in the dumpster downstairs! Yeah, he never came back and got it.

Once the neighbors left with their junk, we had the chance to do a little digging and find some stuff for ourselves. The BF found a lot of guy’s clothes buried, still with new tags and hats with the tags attached. We grabbed a cute little black wood shelf that needs a LOT of work and a huge plastic bookshelf for the pantry. Plus a shelf for over the toilet (just like one I lost pieces from during my last move) and for some reason, the BF grabbed a set of mismatched plates, even though I have enough for a small army.

The last thing we grabbed was this chippy bookshelf you see below. She had this stuck in her daughter’s room and I kind of liked it. The BF needed to put a nail in the bottom where the side was pulling away, but it’s heavy and in good shape. You can see way too much crap shoved on there right now, mainly because I haven’t set up shelves in any of our other rooms yet.

The funny thing is that we ended up moving into that apartment for almost a year after she moved out. The landlord asked us to move the bookshelf into our apartment because it was taking up too much room. The day after we moved it in, he asked us when we were moving into the other apartment. We ended up moving it into one apartment on one day and then moving it back two days later. Trust me, this one is heavier than it looks!

Vintage Industrial Pieces Blow My Mind!

I was reading an article the other day about vintage industrial pieces and how those pieces are making a comeback. It had some info on designers using real pieces and replica pieces in their designs. Then I searched through eBay and Etsy and found some cool stuff. What cracks me up is that I grew up with a lot of these pieces in my house!

My dad worked for a research group and whenever they remodeled the office and lab, they let the employees take home the older pieces. I remember him giving me this really sturdy, but ugly as heck, steel desk lamp that he used to have on his desk. I was pretty young, maybe 9 or 10, and wanted something cute, not ugly and heavy. I covered it in Lisa Frank stickers and abandoned it when I got older. That lamp is still sitting in their storage room today!

We also had several sets of the old metal bookends: the ones that just look like a big "L" and made from black metal. I remember that the bookends didn't work that well with paperback books. We also had an old rolling desk chair, with a metal frame and nubby green fabric from the 50s or 60s. I'm not sure if he brought that home from work or picked it up at an auction. I remember rolling it from one side of the room to the other and trying to make it all the way across.

I don't think I'd want to sell those pieces today. In fact, I'd just like to use them in and around my office. Maybe the next time I go "home", I'll have to dig through some boxes...

Our New Chair

“There’s a bunch of stuff sitting outside on the side of the road,” the BF said casually the other night. “What do you mean, stuff?” I asked back. He looked confused for a minute, then kind of shrugged and said, “Stuff.”

When he opened the front door and pointed, the first thing that caught my eye was this chair. I told him I liked it and he asked if he should go over and get. I kind of hemmed and hawed for a minute and with a deep sigh, he took off across the street. A few minutes later he was back, carting the chair over his head. It was probably a good thing too because that was right about the time it started raining!

I’m not sure if the people moved out, were evicted or what happened. I can’t remember the last time I even saw anyone living there, but apparently someone decided to clean out the house a little because this and a whole other pile of trash was just sitting there.

We weren’t the only ones interested in the trash either! Some random guy drove up, parked in the middle of the street and started digging through the piles. He casually walked back to his truck when the BF ran over and pretended like he was leaving. As soon as he was gone, he ran back to the trash.

I asked the BF if anything else looked good and he said it seemed like a lot of old electronic stuff. I probably should have checked it out myself, but it was raining and getting dark. We ended up going to the store later and I almost smacked him when we drove by. Still left in the trash was a leather covered desk chair and an old fireplace mantle.

We’re renting an older house right now that has two (non-working) fireplaces: one in the living room and one in the kitchen. The one in the kitchen has a mantle, but the living room doesn’t have a mantle. He promised to go back in the morning and grab both if they were still there, but we both forgot that trash day was this morning and everything was gone.

Oddly enough, the guy we saw digging through the trash came back later in the night! We heard a truck drive down the road around 1 am and heard it idling. Opened the door and he was a block away, still grabbing stuff and sticking it in his truck. That takes some serious dedication.

As for the chair, I have no clue what we’ll do with it. I figured out how to get the padding/fabric off the frame and I’m thinking about reupholstering it. I kind of like the shape, but I strongly detest the hospital/doctor’s office fabric on it right now. For now I guess it’s best as a cat chair!

As soon as he brought it into the house, the two cats started sniffing it. The girl got bored, but the little boy is obsessed with it. Every time we turn around, he’s either laying on the top or sitting on the seat. Maybe we just found a free bed for him!

*Ignore the date on the photos. The BF can’t figure out how to adjust the date/time, so all of his photos are around three months behind!

My Wants

Whenever we go to a thrift store, the BF and I instantly head in opposite directions. You might think that I check out the clothes, being a girl and all, but that's all him. He can spend 30 minutes looking for clothes, while I circle the entire store. Usually I hit everything but the clothes and then circle back around to get him...and he's still in the clothing section.

My method is pretty simple: I start with the books, then head to kitchen, then on to the toy department and then over to the house stuff. If it's a store with a "special" case (damn you Salvation Army!), I stop by there last. I always have a few things in mind that I want and those things catch my eye. So, what exactly am I looking for?

(1) Teen/young adult books from the 80s-mid 90s. I actually have a blog where I recap Sweet Valley High, Fear Street, Christopher Pike and books of the same style. Once upon a time I had a good collection, but ended up selling the books or donating them, so now I'm trying to replace my collection.

(2) Anything Elvis. I've been a fan since my parents dragged me to Graceland as a teen, but the odds of finding anything at a thrift are slim to none. That doesn't keep me from looking though.

(3) Pink Aluminum. I only have a few aluminum pieces that I really like, namely an old cake holder that I have used before, a set of measuring cups that are missing one handle, a shaker style measuring cup and an ice cream scoop. I'm still secretly hoping to score a set of old aluminum cups, of any color. My grand-parents had a set when I was a kid, but those mysteriously disappeared.

(4) Vintage Tupperware. I not-so-secretly love Tupperware and have a fairly large collection, but rarely use it. I have the tall cups, bowls, coffee cups, a pickle holder, a steamer and other pieces. Not long after we started dating, the BF used one of the pieces to store some leftovers and I was shocked.

(5) Skull related decorations. The BF is kind of a bad ass, or at least looks like one and he loves skulls. Every time I hit a store or yard sale, I keep my eyes peeled for something for him.

(6) Halloween stuff. I have a confession to make: I love Halloween and I'm not afraid to pay retail for stuff I really, really like. Case in point: the multiple black cats staring at me in the living room and the Jason (Friday the 13th) head hanging from the door.

(7) "Mod." I was completely born in the wrong generation because I love Modern style furniture and home accessories. I have the world's ugliest chair (according to friends). It's covered in bright orange vinyl, but it has the slanted legs that I love oh-so-much. It was love at first sight and I never even asked the seller to work on a deal with me. I picked up an unbelievably odd glass bowl/platter at the Salvation Army not too long ago for $5. Most people would hate it, but I find the weird shape kind of interesting.