Yard Sale Finds

        It's that time of year again.  That's right, May has arrived, and that means it's garage sale time!  Don't you love garage sales!  My first apartment was furnished with Goodwill and garage sale items for less than $100.  If you know what you're doing, you can turn someone else's unwanted items into great conversation pieces in your home.  I had a neighbor who once came to my apartment, and the first thing they said to me after walking through the door was that my apartment looked like a picture in a Pottery Barn magazine.   When I told them about all of my thrifty finds, they couldn't believe it.  What a huge compliment that was.  I don't know that I necessarily agree with that comment, but I will say that my apartment was cozy.  I definitely looked forward to going home when I got off of work each night.  When I moved to McCordsville and started dating Matt, he also couldn't believe all that I'd done to my apartment for the little bit of money that I spent.  Now that we've moved into the new house, I have a lot of rooms to turn into "Pottery Barn look alikes", and garage sales are a great way to do that. 

      So today was the day ~ today was the day that I had planned to take two hours out of my day to hit some community garage sales.  Friday is my day off work, and I always have a lot to get done on my day off.  I'm a planner who lives by a schedule, so like everything else I do, I had to plan and prepare to use my two hours wisely.  First, I went to this website to look up community yard sales in my area.  Then, I mapped the communities and strategically planned my route around the errands I needed to run today.  I also made a list of things that I still needed for the house, so I could refer to the list as I was rummaging through the sales.  After making sure that I had plenty of gas in my car and plenty of cash in my wallet, I hit the sales.  I had four neighborhoods on my list today, and I only had two hours to "shop".  Trying to stay within my timeframe, I "scouted" out the sales as I slowly drove by them, and I only stopped at the ones that looked promising.  I didn't get a whole lot today.   I only spent $25 on all of my purchases, and I only got things I knew I could use.  Here are my finds from today.



$2 lamp

It's not too pretty right now.  When I'm done with it, it will be a knock-off version of a $30 Pier One lamp, only it will be a fraction of the cost.



$5 lamp

I originally had a different lamp in this space.  Then, I found a better place for the lamp and put a vase of flowers here instead.  When I did that, Matt began complaining that he didn't have enough light on his half of the room.....sooo when I saw this lamp today, I thought of Matt.  It needs a little bit of "dressing up" to work in this space, but that won't be too hard to do.  I think it will look really good when I'm done with it.

$4 for each table

There are a few places that I could put these in the house, and I haven't quite figured out their permanent location.  One thing is for sure....they won't look like this when I'm finished with them.

$5 TV stand

Ok, so if it weren't for my husband, I wouldn't have purchased this.  You see, we replaced our living room furniture with a new sectional and ottoman.  We put the old set (the set with the "practical" coffee table) upstairs, and Matt is having a difficult time adjusting to his life downstairs without his coffee table.  The ottoman is great for kicking your feet up and lounging, but Matt can't put his dinner on it like he could the coffee table.  When I saw this TV stand, I thought of Matt.  It meets all of his needs for the many meals that he eats on the couch, and I can fold up the TV stand and store it in the pantry when he's not using it.  He was very happy with this purchase when he saw it:)

$5 Fica Tree

I saw this exact same tree today in a store for $39.99, so my $5 find doesn't seem so bad. I purchased a tree like this several years ago, but Chloe ruined it when she was a kitten.  I'm not really a fan of fica trees anymore, but I needed something to fill out this big empty corner.  Even if it's just a temporary fix, it's worth $5 to me.  I really want one of those vintage, decorative floor fans to go in this space, but the cheapest I've haven't seen them for less than $100. 

By the way, I though I'd let you all know that I linked up this week with Creation Corner and The Thrify Home.  Check it out, and take a look at other bloggers creations while you're there.