BEST OF SUMMER GARAGE SALE FINDS

As I woke up yesterday to the dreariness of sudden autumn in Portland, I realized that one of the things I most enjoy about summer is unofficially over.

Goodbye, Garage Sales.

Hitting a slammin’ garage sale (or tag sales for all you New Englanders) is one of my favorite things about summer here. For the last couple years I’ve had my own as part of the epic Laurelhurst Garage Sale (a huge sale involving about one hundred different homes) and I’ve hosted plenty of my own at my house, too.

I love garage sales; they’re not only a great way to winnow your possessions and detritus (and heaven knows I’m a packrat and buy far too much stuff), but they’re also a great way to match cool things with customers — and give someone else a great bargain in the process.

And the only thing I love more than hosting a garage sale is going to one. Or a dozen.

September is pretty much the end of garage sale season; the weather is too spotty and families are not in pare-down mode. Sure, there is the occasional indoor estate sale I will hit from now through June, but these are professional affairs in which nothing is under-priced and the professionals and pickers all get there before I do so usually the shelves are woefully scavenged by the time I get there.

This is the first year I’ve made the connection between my fall-is-coming melancholy and the inevitable shortage of sidewalk pickings. But instead of crying about it, yesterday I walked around the house in search of a few of the things I’ve picked up over the summer.

If I wasn’t actively using them, I vowed to put my babies to work in the rainy days to come.

Here’s a walk through of what I found I had amassed over the last couple months.

My first big garage sale of the year was the aforementioned Laurelhurst sale.

I spent most of my time selling my stuff at a friend’s house: hundreds of pieces of girl’s clothing, dozens of vintage pillowcases, housewares, books, and maybe a hundred separate pieces of fabric. I let everything go for super cheap, and I was thrilled when some great items found homes with ecstatic new owners.

There’s a certain joy in letting go sometimes.

I had two favorite transactions that day.

The first one was selling a quiche pan to a woman in her eighties  for a dollar (and then throwing in a free cookbook with a recipe for Quiche Florentine). She was so excited about her two-for-one deal that she said she was going to run out and buy eggs that afternoon (I hope I still can and want to cook at her age).

The second sale was to a woman who found this great piece of red vintage fabric I wasn’t sure I wanted to sell, but had made it into the stash. I asked her what she was doing with it, thinking that if she said she didn’t know, I might consider asking for it back. Instead, she told me she loved it and was going to use it to make curtains for her chicken coop.

I was so excited about the prospect that I let the huge piece also go for a dollar. She couldn’t believe it, and I was tickled thinking how cute they’d probably be in the abode of the old hens (I already named them Lucy and Ethel in my mind).

Homemade vintage curtains for a chicken coop? That’s so Portland — where DIY, homesteading and wacky creativity collide.

I did take a few minutes out of selling to check out a few sales, and I ended up with two things.

First off, this pearl necklace for the princely sum of three dollars (I didn’t have change and she told me to forget it).

Because a girl can never have too many pearl options.

And these.

I am sure most of you recognize these jam jars from Bonne Maman.

I love how sweet they are with their cheery tops, their just-right size and their threaded glass jars. I already had six in full usage around here, but now I’m the proud owner of a dozen (and it would have taken me a year to have gotten through that much jam in newer jars).

I use these jars for everything: making and storing vinaigrette, packing up snacks for kids lunches, storing small bits of sauces or nibbles in my fridge. My favorite time I used them this summer was when I filled all twelve with corn salad to a picnic. I presented them with bright red spoons and the whole party had their own individual container.

If there is one thing I have learned catering and throwing parties for thirty years, everyone loves their own individual portion of something tasty.

My next big garage sale was in Wisconsin.

At the church sale, I bought a fair amount of housewares: a stainless steel pan, tiny vintage scalloped bowls, and these items below — an eight quart stockpot, a vintage Thermos and six red bandanas.

I love how they look together; combined they are screaming for a fall get-together with warm cider, a big enamel pot of popcorn, and maybe I’ll use the bandanas as napkins for the big, gooey caramel apples served alongside.

And at one of the beautiful cabins along the lake, I found this charmer.

I’m a sucker for charm bracelets, and this one is so sweet with a name and birth date inscribed on each of the six charms (presumably the names of kids or grandbabies of one very proud gal).

The charms are all sterling silver and clink prettily when I wear it;  I probably wear it a couple days each week, and I still marvel at the fact that I got it for five dollars. I imagine if I ever get around to polishing it, it will be even more lovely to look at.

Back at home, I had a few good sales left to it.

At the Irvington Garage Sale, there were about forty or fifty houses participating and I found a couple of fun things in my travels.

Like these Japanese porcelain bowls (two dollars for five) and this silly poodle apron for a quarter.

I also found some interesting old kitchen utensils; I bought about fifteen total and at seven dollars for the lot, I thought they were fairly priced.

Will I use them all? Probably not. Will I enjoy seeing them sitting on my shelf in the meantime? You know I will.

I also found this enamel bowl in surprisingly pristine shape; I already had a robin’s egg one I use all the time and I was so happy to bring this smaller version home as well. The fact that it nests perfectly inside the larger one made it seem like it was just meant to be.

It was only five dollars and it’s the ideal size for a small salad or bowl of goldfish for a posse of hungry munchkins.

And then there was this bonus freebie — a whole box of vintage wallpaper scraps, perhaps ten rolls in all.

Here is a glimpse as to what the four different rolls look like unraveled slightly.

I was buying a couple hardcover books when I spied these just beyond the owner’s chair; she said that they were from her grandmother’s house and she was going to give them away to the first person who inquired about them.

Oh Lucky Day!

I think I will use these papers to line pastry boxes for cookies and cakes and the like — and maybe make some fun tags as well.

Charlotte also has a dollhouse, so one of these days I may line some walls with this as well. Wouldn’t this one be pretty in the miniature girl’s room?

And then just last Friday, I went to what was probably my last big garage sale of the season.

I was driving back after lunch with my pal Sasha (an amazing caterer and foodie) when I spied a sign for a sale. I love Friday sales– they are usually casual affairs that haven’t been hit too hard by professionals or an influx of bargain shoppers.

When you stumble upon them, they are either lousy or golden, and you never know until you pull up.

This one was on the edge of Irvington (one of the prettiest sections of the city) and looked mildly promising with some pretty duvet covers and older hardcover books, but it was two jars — one red, one blue– toward the front of the house that caught my eye.

The glass jars were large (maybe quart sized) and the thing that really struck me was the blue one was identical to one I bought at the Goodwill bins five years ago. Unfortunately, in my haste to clean it I threw in the dishwasher and was horrified to learn that the steam and hot water had taken all the paint off the lid and my adorable cookie jar was ravaged.

I was so mad at myself at the time — my score had turned into a disaster — that I silently swore right then and there that I would never be so cavalier with vintage painted items again, and should I ever be so lucky to find the exact same one again, I would be good to it.

And there it was.

The woman (probably in her late 70’s) who was selling it said both jars were from the 1950’s and her mother used to buy peanut butter in them and then save them for grains and such afterwards, and now more than fifty years later, she was still using them for storage. I told her my story of the cookie jar destroyed by my carelessness and she offered to find me another one in her house if I wanted two of the blue ones.

She hobbled across the street and voila, she had found another one and presented me with it.

An heir and a spare!

I’ve since hand-washed these little gals up and they are now holding quinoa, red rice and couscous — and I imagine every time I pull one of my pantry it will make me smile.

Okay, so the season is mostly over, but I will continue to keep an eye out — perhaps yet there may be one more sale on some crisp Saturday morning in the weeks to come.

In my dream scenario, Grandma decides once and far all to clean out that basement that’s full of old linens, blue wood tool boxes, and vintage Christmas wrap (not to mention old board games, 1950’s picnic tins and Bakelite cutlery).

And I will be the first one to stumble upon this treasure trove. She and I will laugh and chat and she will tell me the back stories on all my finds so that I may be a proper custodian to them all.

I will walk away a little poorer but with armfuls of treasures — and Grandma will be happy and confident in knowing her old pals have found a welcoming new home.