Ooooh an estate sale!

It was last Sunday.  It was miserable outside and we were fed up of being inside.  We set off out to find some antique stores to look around. I had seen a place online called Olde Mobile Antiques Gallery and it turned out that it was just around the corner from us!  We got there and it was shut.  I was sad but I should have known as it was a Sunday 😦  When we returned home, I found Olde Mobile on Facebook and got terribly excited when I found out they were holding their monthly estate sale on Friday!  I have never been to an estate sale, and we had just picked up the truck which meant I could go on the opening day.  This made me very happy and I even got out of bed before 8am!

I headed down to the sale around 10:30am.  By this time, it had already been open for a couple of hours and the car park was packed!  As I walked through the car park, there were many people coming out with bags and boxes full of goodies.  I really didn’t know where to start when I got in.  I certainly didn’t think it was going to be as big as it was and it was a little overwhelming for a first time estate sale attendee like myself.

I perused the furniture while working out where to head first.  If we had a house in the US, I would have bought LOADS of this stuff.  I had little ideas and projects running through my mind as I opened drawers in desks and peered into the wooden wardrobes.

I headed to the $1 tables first and instantly saw a few things that I wanted to pick up.  That’s a lie… I could have filled a shopping trolley full of stuff to be honest; lots of quirky items just waiting for their new home.

My shopping tactics were reviewed as I realised that I would not be able to dig into the linens table if I had things in my hands.  I headed over and found an off cut of thick polyester knit straight away.  I then found a very large skirt which would have been a job and a half to alter to fit me but the print was a lovely purple paisley and there was a lot of material that I could re-use.

With these in hand, I headed back to the table and picked a few bits up.  We are only going to be here over one Christmas so we don’t want to spend a fortune on decorations that we will probably leave behind due to luggage allowances 😦  I decided that it would be better to come back with Adam the next day to pick out some Christmas decorations that we both liked.  So for now I took the four candles (cue The Two Ronnies sketch) and two stuffed Christmas trees.

When we returned Saturday morning, there was a 30% off sale on the items on the tables!! I loaded Adam up with a woven basket I found under a table and filled it up with Christmas cheer and some patriotic salt & pepper shakers!

I still had both hands free to explore and had a dig through the clothing racks.  The items on the racks were again, only $1 and I felt the need to come away with a bargain or two.  A black cherry print skirt popped out at me.  It looked a little small but when I got it home, it fit me perfectly!  That was a bobby dazzler of a bargain!  I then found two Amy Adams vintage two-piece suits, which I was originally drawn towards because of the skirts.  I have tried to do a little research on their age and I seem to think that they are from the 70’s.  They don’t look bad at all at the moment but I will alter them to make them a little shorter; probably knee length.

                    
The skirts were part of a set; with a matching blouse and belt.  As a set, I don’t think they are that flattering at all on me.  They make me look frumpy (is that a used word in the US?).  However, I will give them a shot with a little altering and see if I can salvage a wearable garment from them.

All in all, I found some brilliant items that I am extremely pleased with!  The sale was well organised, which made shopping for bargains even better!  The Christmas decorations have been wrapped and stored and the date for the next estate sale has gone in my diary 🙂