Just experienced my first estate sale ever. And I’m hooked. I don’t know why I haven’t attended an estate sale before. The one I was at early this morning was a step above a yard sale and a step below a flea market. Look at the stash of goodies that came home with me…
Apparently, the estate had been owned by a local artist whose work had won several awards and been featured in the Cincinnati Art Museum back in the 60’s. I grabbed two of her original paintings. The white one is about 2′ x 3′ and the green one is larger than 3′ x 5’…pretty big!
I also snatched up this ceramic planter. I could see it working well inside or outside. I LOVE the black and white graphic floral motif. Right up my alley. Not sure what will end up in it yet.
I couldn’t pass up these woven baskets with lids and wood bead necklace. I think the baskets would make great key holders, desktop storage containers {for things like post-its, push pins, paper clips, etc} or jewelry boxes.
The bead necklace reminds me of this Kayce Hughes version that I’ve been eyeing for a while now but haven’t been able talk myself into buying. Glad I waited it out. I snatched this cheaper version for $2! In fact, before I left for the estate sale I gave myself a $200 budget. That’s usually high for me but I had seen the estate sale listed online along with images of items for sale beforehand. After talking with Handy Hubby, we decided we were ready to invest in some original artwork…something we’ve always wanted to do. So, I set a spending limit of $200 thinking I could probably get two pretty decent pieces for that. After all was said and done, I came in well under budget at $164 total. Sweet!
The larger painting was $95 and the smaller one was $50. The planter was $15. The baskets were $1 each and like I mentioned before the necklace was $2.
And here’s the kicker…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…the estate from which these items came will be our next home!!! Yep, you heard me right. We’re actually set to be the next owners of the estate…which I’ll tell you all about a little later. So, that’s how we knew about the sale today. In fact, when we toured the home and discovered that the paintings inside were the original homeowner’s work and were going to be sold, Handy Hubby and I each picked out our favorite: mine the green one above and Handy Hubby’s the black and white one. {Coincidentally, today is Handy Hubby’s birthday. Guess what my gift to him is…} Once we put in an offer on the house and it was accepted, we knew we wanted to keep these paintings with the home to celebrate the artist’s life and to become great storytelling pieces as the house evolves. What a great story, right?
So, now you know. Yes, we’ve found our next house. The price, neighborhood, public schools and potential for making it ‘us’ sold us. I can’t wait to share more about it soon!
Until then let’s talk estate sales. Do you frequent them? Are you an estate sale virgin…like I was until today? Ever find a really great piece at an estate sale? ‘Fess up.
images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, inspiration