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pic source If you have more than a couple of items, add it all up in your head and then take off what you think sounds fair and then ask. Don't low-ball though. You don't ask for a pile of amazing stuff that adds up to $10 for one dollar. That's bad yard sale etiquette.
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*look in the little free newspapers that come out during the week
to see what's going on for the weekend. I check on Thursdays and Fridays.
Do I need to get cash?
I would definitely take cash. A lot of people won't accept checks. I usually get a five, 4 ones, and 4 quarters and see how far I can make $10 stretch. This makes me really think about what I buy. If there is something for more than that and I really want it, I see if they will take a local check or hold it for me for a half an hour while I run get more. If you're on the hunt for big ticket items like furniture, of course you want to bring more.
Either. It can be a ton of fun going with other people, but if I'm on limited time I like going by myself because I know what I'm looking for and can move quickly from one to the next. That being said, some of my favorite yard sale memories have been with friends and family~being lost, trying to contain our excitement when we find a treasure, or wondering how we're going to fit that bookself in our little car, or where we're going to hide our stuff from our husbands. :) It's always nice to have a driver and a navigator as well.
Unless you have a bare house and are starting from scratch. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that most of you {like me} have too much stuff already. If you start bringing home a bunch of treasures and add to your home without replacing items, pretty soon your house is going to look like an indoor yard sale. Get rid of things you may not love and replace them with things you do.
"Remove the clutter and then honor and respect those things that make your heart sing" 
"When we talk about saving money, the best way to save it is not to waste it. And it doesn't matter how much time or energy or money you put into a room, if you haven't edited and organized and decluttered and gotten it into a beautiful, functional state first, you've wasted the money." ~Candice Olsen 
I'm planning on getting lots done. So, I'll see you back here next week~have a great weekend!
The next one is in our bedroom: it's a glass (maybe crystal?? how do I tell?) door knob from our very first apartment after we were married and is from the early 1900;s It had broken off of the door and when they replaced it with an ugly, new brass one I kept it. It brings back so many memories.
Anyway...I had been wanting to display it somehow, so here is what I came up with:
I found a scrap of black and white toile fabric, a little letter "S" from Hobby Lobby painted black and a frame from a yard sale that I also spray painted black. I had to cut a little hole through the fabric and hot glue the knob to the backboard of the frame so it would stay. My inspiration for the hanging "S" came from Blue Castle ~I loved hers. So much that I may even paint my "S" red to stand out a little more~what do you think?
There are my little touches of toile~there is a whole party of it going on over at Pretty Organized Palace~go join the fun!
**** Edited to Add: ****
Wait! Something about that "S" was really bothering me~too shiny, too much black, too something. So, I tried red spray paint. It still didn't fit. So I started wiping the red off, which took off some black as well, and I actually loved the old, weathered look it gave it. It seemed to fit the door knob. So, here is the makeover of the makeover.
Yes, I'm a spaz. Back to normal programming. Thanks :)
Yeah, well I jumped ship on Saturday morning.
It had been a long, hard week with my husband gone a lot and the only "me" time I was going to be able to sneak in was Sat morning before 9 a.m. I also had some birthday money from my grandma burning a hole in my pocket. What's a girl to do?
Not a bad morning, but not the best. I was on my way home when I saw a sign for a feeder sale (what am I talking about? see my yard sale 101 posts here) just a few blocks from my house. Of course I stopped, and they had some of the best stuff! I couldn't believe it.
white Pottery Barn dishes, an lamp with great potential, a frame, a candle holder, a wreath, a cute yellow tin, a wooden wall hanging thing with a drawer, and a bunch of Swiffer refills. And, do you see the beauty they're sitting on?
It's a gorgeous white Ethan Allen desk set~ all wood, came with the chair, the toile chair pad, and a nightstand that's not in the picture. It has some handles missing and a few of the shelves were gone, but it was in great shape.
Him: "Oh, we sold a lot~some furniture, lots of fabric, curtains, some old doors, lots of decorative stuff. We're getting ready to move and just don't want to pack a lot."
This week has flown with spring break~we've gotten some good cleaning in, with a few of these:
I promised we’d talk about price and what we did in the kitchen, so here we go!
I loved the open-ness of the kitchen right into the family room. The cabinets were in great shape and had some nice features, they were just orange oak. Painting was the least expensive route. Do you remember how I got some quotes to have a professional paint it? They came in for around $2500, so with our budget right now we decided to DIY.
Here are the price breakdowns:
Cabinet hardware: Martha Stewart Bedford Dowel Cabinet Pull and Martha Stewart Bedford Canopy Pull. Total: $200 We spray painted the hinges with a brushed nickel. Who cares about hinges? I guess I don’t.
Now, you could save a lot of money on pulls for your cabinets by purchasing them on Ebay, but I LOVED these and figured since we were painting ourselves, I was totally justified in the hardware…right??
That sweet topiary was a fun surprise from my friend, Robyn! The paint and primer for the cabinets was about $100 ~ the tutorial for painting kitchen cabinets can be found by clicking here.
You can read more about the kitchen shelf here with the beadboard wallpaper backing. The containers are from Target, but I scored one at a yard sale. The silver platter was a wedding gift, the plates and crock are also old Target purchases. Total: $22
We kept the sink, and you can read more about the faucet here. $100
The milk glass and white glassware are mostly from Goodwill (that white pitcher is from Target), total about $20.
DIY schoolhouse light here $35
Curtain fabric info here about $15
the baskets were from my cut up coffee table turned bench! (free), the dishwasher was a crazy deal last year, a kitchen aid marked down from $1589 to $589 (remember?)
That fridge came with us from Texas, so I’m not including it. I would love a different style, but we’re waiting on that one. The microwave ($149) and stove ($598) were black Friday deals last year.
The green chair at the desk was about $15, the diy roman shades were about $20
The subway tile is the good old .24 cent tile in store at Home Depot – $20 total. I don’t think you can get more bang for your buck if you need a classic update in your kitchen or bath. The tutorial for the subway tile backsplash can be found here.
The corbels are from Home Depot, $8 each = $24 they are hot glued on there….shhhhhhh.
The bowl is TJMaxx $17
Glass in cabinet doors (see tutorial here) $18
Penny tile cabinet back -- click here for tutorial $150
I saw the idea for this in PB magazine and pinned it, then copied it. The hooks are from summer garden clearance at Lowes $3 each = $6
The pitcher is from TJ Maxx $9, and the lantern is from Real Deals in Missoula, Montana when I was there visiting. $20
The table refinish -- click here for the full tutorial was about $50, the chairs from Craigslist were $100, the diy drum lights were $120 – tutorial here.
We kept the laminate counters, because we’re trying to meet some financial goals and new solid surface isn’t in the budget right now. But at least they are nice and neutral.
Neither are hardwood floors…but, someday? I hope. The previous owners put brand, spanking new linoleum in right before we saw the house for the first time. I saw the bill for it on the counter (I ain’t nosy) and they paid $2800. Gulp. Of course I think of what that could have gone towards flooring wise, but can’t really change that now, can I? It’s not bad at all though.
And there you have it.
TOTAL: $2397 for EVERYTHING including the appliances we purchased. It feels like a new kitchen! I love that we would have paid a painter more than that just to paint the cabinets. Awesome.
So…NOW it feels good, now that the work is all over, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s not a fun process.
Let’s look at the before one more time:
and the after:
I know I probably missed something~let me know if you have ???
Halla – loo – yer, hallalooyer! We’re wrapping this room up. Thanks for all of the suggestions and thoughts on the curtain post.
I really thought we would go with the blush from Target and I was dreading adding something to the bottom and I even tried ordering some blush ones from H&M Home that Jodi R recommended on Facebook but then they were out of stock so I took that as a sign. We put up the BH&G ones from Walmart and she loved them, I loved them, they were the right length so they stayed. Didn’t even iron them! May is such a crazy month with 3 boys in baseball, end of the year performances, concerts, recitals, parties and I honestly wanted to cry adding one more thing to my list -- so I didn’t.
I don’t think the pictures do them justice, and we needed some pattern in there. The lamps used to be in our master bedroom in Virginia and we spray painted them gold. The black framed print is from Hobby Lobby (only $6!!)
The dresser was also in our master in VA but we gave it a new coat of white spray paint.
This was a fun way to display some of her favorite Instagram photos – we found the bulletin board for $5 at the thrift store and then we had them printed at Persnickety Prints. It was the first time we had used them and I loved the kind of paper they used – perfect for display, it was $15 for all of these pics. Then we just hung them with jute twine and tiny clothespins.
I ordered this print from Minted forever ago because I loved it so much – it’s serene and restful and the hint of pink was perfect for her room. It’s called Mornings Away by Emily Jeffords and then we framed it in an Ikea Ribba frame spray painted gold.
The bed is from Amazon and we only paid $152 with Prime in March – right now it doesn’t look like Amazon is selling it, but watch and it may come back at a great price? Info on the board & batten on the wall is here. The chandelier is from my Grandma’s house ♥
The lamps on the dresser are from a yard sale in Texas FOREVER ago, $5 for both. The frames and greenery are from Ross and local stores.
The white & gold pillows are actually from Walmart for $13 each. The white coverlet is from a thrift store for $5 – I was going to use it as a display blanket in a cute basket but it was in such great shape we washed it and used it on her bed. The blush comforter at the foot of the bed came in a set from Ross – only $29.99. Here is a pic:
The bar cart is a crazy random find at Target – it was an after Christmas clearance find for 90% off! $13!! I checked a few more stores for my sister that wanted one but no luck.
The framed quotes by the bar cart are in Ikea and TJ Maxx frames, just printed out at Costco. The top one was from Etsy for $1.50 and I used some floral wrapping paper from TJ Maxx to wrap the mat.
That’s it! I returned all of the curtain choices that we didn’t use and this makeover ended up being easily under $300 since we had the mattress, chandelier, and dresser -- I think I linked up to everything as we went along – let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for stopping by ~ I’m adding it to the home tour tab.
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