Written on July 23, 2011

Garage Sales or Art Galleries?



This summer I’ve scored at garage sales with great framed art prints for the kids’ walls. Now all three of the kids have framed art on their walls, and each print somehow reflects their tastes and personalities and interests–bonus! This print hangs above the mantle in my 13-year-old’s room. It’s perfect for his passion of this summer, FISHING! It’s really large and beautifully matted and framed too! Garage sale cost: $15. Cost new: $75-$150

A framed art print for Ezra's room, signed by the artist, for $10

Ezra got the coolest print, nabbed by me at the Congressman’s garage sale mentioned earlier in this blog. It’s also nicely framed, and the print is from a poster for the 2005 Great Lakes Conservation Conference, obviously a gift to the Congressman for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Great Lakes! And it’s signed by the artist! That alone floors me, because Ezra is our artist in residence, AND he has a “water” theme for his room. The print depicts the vanishing sturgeon fish, which is also perfect for our family’s eco sensibilities. The congressman charged: $10 (“It’s worth alot more than that,” he muttered, nicely). Cost in the real world. I have no idea. I’d say maybe $100? Fabulous!

Finally, Phoebe got a darling, hand-painted painting of pears with all her favorite colors–lime, pink, blue etc. It’s exquisite, and works perfectly in her pretty little blue bedroom. If I had the energy I’d snap a pic and share that too. Maybe later. For now, it cost me $5, and I think something similar would have been about $25 (it’s painted on a canvas which is wrapped around a box frame and I popped it right on the wall).

How about you? Have you ever picked up a piece of art at a garage sale or thrift store? Tell! And show! I’d love to see whatcha got!

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Written on July 4, 2011

Garage Sale-ing for Gifts?

$60 worth of NEEDED stuff for $6

Okay, so I need to work a little on my photo skills! Anyway, behind the oil painting is a paper shredder, which I nabbed for $3. The woman having the garage sale said she consolidated her boutique office to her home office, and no longer needed two paper shredders. I looked up the cost of paper shredders, and a no-frills model like this one would be about $29.99. It works great, and I have been needing one for years. Also at this sale: A hip tee for Jonah, three tops, a pair of shorts, and a pair of pants for Phoebe, and a sturdy canvas, ready to hang on a wall. This last item is for my artist, Ez. It has a pleasing picture painted on it already, but it’s nothing I loved. Instead, for 50 cents, I’ll let Ez have at it, painting his own masterpiece over the existing depiction of flowers and fruit. The best part is, instead of saving his artwork til Kingdom come (and never getting around to framing it), I’ll pop this on our wall with pride as soon as the paint dries.

Beads, books, and tops--most of it giftable

My friend Holly had this garage sale and I made out like (say it together now) a BANDIT IN A BONNET! Oh yeah! For Princess Phoebe, I got a brand new book about drawing animals, a brand new hardcover journal, a bunch of beads and girlish craft supplies Holly and Grace never got around to doing, and a couple of tops, one for me (“Peace”), and another for my 10-year-old niece. Holly tried to give me this stuff for free, but I think I threw five bucks at her. Still, such a deal. Phoebe’s getting the book and journal as part of her Christmas present. 

Christmas gifts for my brother, my husband's cousins gift exchange, and at least one nephew

My fellow garage salers, let us consider Christmas when rummaging through the flotsam and jetsum of other people’s stuff. Seriously! My A-1, Honeybun favorite thing to buy at a garage sale is hardcover books. If I see a table laden with books as I’m cruising slowly down a street, I will slam on the brakes like an old lady afraid to hit a squirrel. At this last sale of the day, I cleaned up, and crossed a few Christmas gifts off my list, six months early! For Dan (if you’re Dan, don’t read this) I got three books, including “Up in the Air” by Walter Kirn (you know, the George Clooney movie), a nice trade paperback retailing for $14.95. $50 worth of books for $2. For Doyle’s cousin exchange (which makes it sound like we exchange cousins…maybe not a bad idea?), we are asked to bring a $15 gift for both a man and a woman for the zany ruckus of a pick-a-number gift exchange. Hopefully, one of the books will work for each category ($2, total). And I always get my nephews and niece an article of clothing and a book. They have come to depend on this like Santa Claus and the Sugarplum Fairy, so I don’t want to do anything else, now that half of them are grown up and married or engaged. My one nephew is itching to become a pilot, so for him, I got “Marine One,” which seems to involve a helicopter and the White House. It’s a $10 book, for .50! Yes, it may seem cheap to you to brag about how I am buying Christmas gifts with the change rattling around in my purse. It is cheap, let’s be frank. But why OH why would anyone pay full price for something, just because they were giving it as a gift? Will the recipient love it? Is it in giftable condition? If your answers are yes, yes, than I ask you, would it not be tackier still NOT to buy these gifts at garage sales, for pennies on the dollar?

I did nab a pristine copy of Nicholas Sparks’ “Dear John” at this other sale, and that, dear readers, I shall give to my beloved mother. Why? Because she loves Nicholas Sparks, the book is in perfect condition, and since I paid TWENTY FIVE CENTS my budget for her gift is wide open for more goodies, old and new, as I find them in the next six months. I like to call this maximizing my gift budget. If, say, my budget for my nephew is $20, that means I still have $19.50 to go, and I’ve already gotten him a wonderful book he’ll likely enjoy. See what I mean?

Try garage saling sometime with a view to gifts, and see what treasures you can haul home.

So, a word about the wine. As I was browsing the books at this fine woman’s sale, it occurred to me that she and her friends were having some sort of wine and munchies. When I commented on it, I was told they have “happy hour” every Friday at quittin’ time. Then I was invited to their subsequent gatherings (having proved myself as a kindred bookish soul), and poured a glass of nice red Shiraz. $80 worth of books AND a glass of wine? Best Garage Sale Ever!

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Written on June 21, 2011

A Congressman’s Garage Sale

On Saturday morning, I came across a neighborhood having one of those big and fabulous all-together-now garage sales, which are fantastic because they save time (you can find a ton in a small area) and if they are in an upscale area? Even better.

So, I’m tooling down the street, eagle-eyed for tables heaving with kids clothes, furniture, and books for me (or for the kids). After a couple of nice but un-blogworthy sales, I see a sign in front of a well-kept ranch house with bowers of roses everywhere. “Sale: Furniture and Misc.” It looks promising, and besides, I’m kind of an addict. I just HAD to know what was behind this curtain of rosebushes.

As it turned out, a U.S. Congressman was behind those rosebushes. Yes, siree. Well, a recently retired congressman, but still, a venerable politician who served SIX terms in Congress. It was Vern Ehlers, a legend in his home state of Michigan and a well regarded and moderate politico on both sides of the fence.

Congressmen have garage sales? DUTCH congressmen do, apparently!

What does a congressman sell at his yard sale? Rep. Ehlers’ inventory was fascinating and threefold: exquisite antiques (like the Berwyck and Gay end table from the 40′s for $295), signed prints and artwork obviously given to him as gifts (I bought a beautifully-framed and truly stunnning poster from a 2005 Great Lakes Conservation Conference, featuring the vanishing sturgeon fish and signed by the artist, for $10), and an assortment of glasses and mugs from Washington daze. “Some of these have historic value,” he informed me, plugging his wares like a congressman trying to pass a bill (do congressmen pass bills? I’m Canadian! What know I of congressmen?). I bought a couple of Republican Convention Mugs, a beer glass from the Brewers Lobby Convention, breaking down the 44% taxes on each glass of beer, and three pretty wine glasses; one said it was from the President’s White House Dinner in 2008. Each glass had some kind of unique, impossible-to-buy factor that made me happy to fork over the $1 a pop to Vern. I’m still pining for the end table, but I love how my Congressional Spending broke down:
* A stellar art print for Ezra’s room, signed and dated by the artist: $10
* Six cups with real “historic value,” to be distributed amongst various Republican devotees amongst my friends, relatives, and in one case, editors: my favorite Libertarian brew fan is getting the beer cup as a gift): $6
Even my Democrat friends (whom I have in equal number) were impressed with the story, and Vern, too. He is applauded across the aisle as an environmentalist and a champion of renewable energy.
Of course, Vern needed a copy of “Money Secrets of the Amish,” which he accepted graciously and then asked me to sign his copy. He then praised the Mennonites, my people, to high Heaven, for their humanitarian efforts.
All in all, a great, super unique haul for $16. I estimate the print to be worth at least $75, probably more. But the glassware from the White House etc? Priceless, in that those items are not for sale. And the story and the experience….Wow!
What’s the coolest and most unique garage sale you’ve ever been to?
Tell!
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