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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Victory Memorial Garage Sale Finds

As I graduated from the University of St. Thomas in May with my Master's in Business Communications, I found MUCH more time on my hands (finally!). One of my first free post-graduation weekends happened to be aligned with the annual Victory Memorial Garage Sale (we'll call it VMGS so I can quit typing it out).

The VMGS is an annual neighborhood event and this summer more than 70 homes (in roughly a one mile radius around our house) joined in the garage sale fun. Last summer I did hit the VMGS, but I went out late (10am or so) with absolutely no plan of action. This summer my approach to the VMGS was vastly different!

With all no school papers to write or projects to do (can I get a Hallelujah!!), I found myself in house DIY projects mode. I made a list of some items I wanted to search for, measured spaces in our home accordingly, and packed my tape measure. The morning of the sale, I powered up with some coffee, grabbed cash, put Dempsey on her running leash (power shopping and dog exercise -- why not kill two birds with one stone, right!?), and hit the road about 8:15am. Although the VMGS is supposed to "open" at 9am, all "serious salers" get out there earlier for the best finds.

Here is a list of my finds:
  • At my very first stop, I came across a cute little piano bench which needed some love. I snagged it for $10 (my most expensive buy of the day and my only failure at bargaining the price down because it was before the sale even opened - oops!).
  • I also found an old kitchen cabinet door with tin inlays which struck my eye (for $5)
  • My mid-morning I snatched up an old nightstand that needed to be redone (for the cost of $2 I figured it would be a good piece to try my amateur refurbishing skills on).
  • I found a gaudy gold table tray for refinishing ($2)
  • Lastly I hauled home some mid-sized wall art in a neat , textured frame (the actual print was not my style....but with a little"'sugery" I knew I could remove that and tend to the frame seperately).  Cost was a whopping $3.

By the time I purchased a $3 dollar hot dog to recharge (yes, there are food vendors at the garage sale - and music too!), I had capped out at a total of $25. By lunch time I was home with a living room full of other peoples' old stuff, about 4 miles of walking under my belt, and one professional (and very tire) garage-saling dog.

Here are my five $25 finds (pre-revamp!):


Future posts will detail the pieces post-revamp! Be on the lookout....

I am definitely looking forward to the VMGS again next yer (typically it  takes place the first weekend of June...but seriously...don't come and steal my great finds!)

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