Saturday, May 21, 2011

Domestic Fashion, King Tut and Herbert Hoover

Smalls, smalls and more smalls! That's ok. Sometimes the big projects torment me to get them done but in actuality, end up in my garage pergatory. I should be able to transform today's booty into ca$h within a few hours! Here's how it all went down......

My first sale was only a block away (and a 6:30 sale at that!) but as I pulled up it looked as though it would be a drive by. Thank goodness I was still half asleep and I stopped because I got the cutest little girl's vintage Christmas apron for 50 cents! Oh how I love vintage Christmas! It must be all that red!
After that I was so excited to hit a church sale that has been phenomenal in the past but this time the lady said they had an antiques dealer come by to help them price things and Sweet Bejesus was it pricey! They actually had a love seat for $400!!!!! Who even brings that much cash to a yard sale? I was in and out of there in about 2 minutes! I did score an old tea cup stand for my daughter that she can put her necklaces on, a scrabble board and low and behold.....not one but two vintage aprons! One has a great old Egyptian print (which I learned years ago was all the rage in the earlier part of the last century after the discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922) and the other is none other than vintage Christmas!!!! This holiday season I definitely have to have a cookie making party so I can distribute all of my vintage Christmas aprons and linens. I guess I just hold dear the image of holidays with my Nana with her adorable aprons in her wee little kitchen in Queens. Thank you, Nana, for giving me my taste in domestic fashion and also the knowledge that everything can be reused for another purpose! See.....The Great Depression had it's good merits!

Well, after that I got a great old Singer sewing machine base that with the right shabby wood top will make a great end table or plant stand. (Incidental, my grandfather on the other side was a Singer sewing machine salesman during The Great Depression. I'm told he did quite well, too given the times [I think we have a theme here today!])

The rest of my sales were all nothing special but each I did walk away with yard sale parting gifts. At one I got a three piece wooden pineapple bowl set that painted and shabbitized will be fantastic!! The next sale I got an etched wall mirror with a little bow for hanging (not great but at least it needs no work). After that, I got a super cool 'dinner only' sign in red that's newer but still a find. The gal said it's from something like Sinnerman's Inn downtown but I've never heard of it. Maybe I stopped there for lunch and they were closed....(ba da dah!). Next up I got a little pink flower frame that will go perfectly with last week's metal flowers for my daughter's room. The next sale I got an old wooden jewelery box that just seems more masculine to me so I think I'll paint it with my son in mind but you never know if I start seeing dollar signs or not so I won't mention it to him until I'm sure. Finally, my last stop looked like the epitome of a drive by but I stopped anyway and scored 45 individual paints that were barely used and each had $1.39 stickers on them but I got the whole box for $2!!!!! What a steal!!! So that about wraps it up. I must say I'm more yard sale sober than I'd like to be but sometimes all you need , like Herbert Hoover said .....' is a chicken in every pot'! Looks like I didn't get the stew today but I'll make do. Pity too because I know just what I'd wear!!