Spring sales beckon.......

Spring has sprung and the yard & estate sales are going strong.  This past weekend was a good one.  Here are a few of my recent finds:

 I found some white Franciscan Ware in the Coronado pattern to add to the pink pieces I found several months ago.  I love the soft colors and the wavy border on these pieces.

 Here is a nice selection of Norcal pots, purchased for a song at a church rummage sale and all cleaned up for repotting succulents on my patio. This pottery is no long being made, so possibly one day it will be considered collectible.

 This cool black wicker indoor-outdoor chair has a mid-century vibe, purchased right in my own neighborhood from a fellow MCM fan.

Well, this piece needs work.  Someone started to paint it a la "shabby chic", but only got the top and front done, and not very well at that.  The original finish is blonde wood of some sort.  I think I will first try to remove the paint, see how it looks au natural.  It would also be a good candidate for my Rustoleum "Cabinet Transformation" kit.  At any rate, it's very sturdy and for $5 a deal that couldn't be passed up!

Weekend Yard Sale Finds

Now that the holidays are over and  sunny weather has returned I was eager to get back out on the yard sale hunt.  Although yard-saleing may not be in full swing for a few more months, I did locate a few ads, mapped out my route, & set off to see what I could find.  First was an "Estate Sale by Sal".  Sal & her crew seem to control much of the local estate sale trade.  Items tend to be priced a little high, especially when you're primarily interested in resale value.  Even so, this sale had nothing of interest.  Next stop was a large yard sale, lots of stuff, but again, nothing I wanted.  Third stop, small sale, nothing much.  Final stop was at an unadvertised estate sale that I spotted signs for.  Finally, I found something halfway decent.  My finds were modest, but interesting, both for myself and for resale. Yay!

Clockwise from top left we have a ceramic cinnamon jar, made in Germany; a sandy pink CA pottery planter, possibly Bauer; an Everedy Tidbit Set, and some mid mod flower coasters.  Not pictured is a Pyrex brown glass loaf pan and an old clipboard that I plan to display vintage book plates on for etsy sales.

Designed to serve such tasty tidbits as olives, pickles, candy, & peanuts and perfect for card parties, backyard BBQs, cocktails, records parties.......and other wild events.  A must-have for the mid-century hostess.

A decade later this wood and cork flower-power coaster set by Serv Wood would be a big  hit with your guests. 

On the Yard Sale Trail

This morning I made just a couple quick yard sale stops while running errands.  I found both these items at a sale right in my own neighborhood.  In fact this lady seems to have one every couple months, and from the looks of it she's either a former antique dealer or just tends to horde a lot of junque.

 The seller assured me these were genuine vintage children's wooden shoes from Holland.  Judging by the chipped paint and worn wood I already assumed as much.

These little metal trays are marked "Massilly"  and "France" along the bottom edge.  Thanks to Google I was able to determine that Massily is a tin-making company that originated in France.  As it appears the company is still in operation today, these trays may or may not be vintage.  Either way, they are cute. And at $1.00 for all 4 they were dirt cheap too.

Now, on to a recent make-over:

 I actually picked  up this late 60's/early 70's treasure at a yard sale last month.  It seemed to call my name with that harvest gold faux wicker and torn vinyl lid.  I thought it would make a nifty storage spot for my ongoing embroidery projects.  I covered the lid with a piece of floral chintz (also picked up at another yard sale) and replaced the worn metal knob with a vintage bakelite drawer knob from another piece of furniture. See the finished product below.  I like it.  Unfortunately the bakelite knob wouldn't attach properly so I had to go back to the old metal knob for now, until I can figure out how to make it work.

Yard Sale Chintz

Yesterday's yard sales netted me this excellent cache of polished cotton chintz decorator samples, made in England and dated from 1980-1983. I scored 38 pieces for the princely sum of $3.50. These are good sized samples, big enough for some cute cottage aprons and table linens. I have a rather long love affair with cotton chintz fabric, starting around 1970, when this fabric began to grow in popularity. Our very first couch (1974) and handmade kitchen curtains were both large-scale floral chintz fabric.