Hooked On Auctions

Friday, I took the day off.  Continuing my search for items to recreate and sell, I headed out to some auctions.  There is a craft sale coming up this weekend and I have reserved a booth with the hopes of raising some money for the dogs.  This means I have been working extra hard to prepare.  Friday, I ended up going to three estate-sale auctions – yep, three!  Not only was the day extremely successful, but I had a blast.

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MY FRIEND RENEE!  (She helped me find these sales.)  Thank you!

I wasn’t sure that I had the courage to go to an auction by myself.  But, the pull of antiques and junk just waiting to be restored was enough to get me out of bed early and head out.  The first auction I went to was out in the country.  It was the estate sale of an older man.  I walked onto the property, one of only three females in a crowd of thirty men.  Everyone was at least double my age and most of them were obviously skilled in the auction world.  As blood pounded in my ears, I made my first bid by quickly raising my arm.  I refused to go past the $5 mark and lost the first item, being as cheap as I am, I was out bid item after item.  But, eventually this little beauty came up and I made my first purchase.  She was $10 and worth every penny.  I is a “half table” so that it fits flat against the wall.

(Please ignore the background in all of these shots.  We are still in our 800 square foot rental… hopefully for only 10 more days!  Everything has been stuffed into corners and on top of other things as we wait for moving day.)

She now looks like this.  Recently, I have a strong urge to be surrounded by bright colors and bold statements.  I love how this turned out and I really hope it attracts some attention at the craft sale – it is hard to miss this much color!

After a couple of hours of items watching items that I wasn’t interested in, I headed out, the sound of the auctioneers rolling tongue faded into the background.  Several miles down the road, I stopped at the next one.  A quick walk through all of the items failed to spark my interest and I headed out before the bidding even began.  I climbed into my Jeep thinking it was time to try Goodwill, when my eye glimpsed an ad for another auction that  I had tossed aside.  It started in one hour and was on my way home.  I figured it was worth stopping in.  Within the first few steps, I knew I was in the right place.  Everything I saw sparked my interest.  After running home to pick up my lawn chair (making me look like a regular auction pro), I settled in and the bidding began.  Again, item after item went by and I was outbid on everything.  I was starting to get bored.

Then, we headed inside the house to look at the bigger items… and the fun really started.  The crowd cleared out as we shifted locations and suddenly things started to be within my budget!  Within a few minutes, I had purchased dozens of items and kept going… the auctioneer memorized my bidding number.

I left on Friday with a budget of $70 (all the cash I had).  I spent $68.50, including the $10 on the little table from the first auction.  Being the cheapest person that I know, you can understand why I enjoyed this shopping trip so much.  Of course, I ended up getting as many things for myself as for the fundraiser, but it was still great.  Check out a list of my purchases:

$3.00     A pair of leather wine decanters.  (Are these not the coolest things you have ever seen?  Why they are covered in leather and what I will do with them is yet to be determined.  I just thought they were cool.)

$5.00     A pair of vintage lamps (These screamed “buy me” – I love them.  My plan is to refinish the shades they came with… they are just a simple white shade… in a doggie motif and sell those.  Then, get these guys new shades and use them in a room.  There are two of them that match, I forgot to take photos until I already had the shades off and one packed.  oops.)

$2.00     New York Times, metal garbage can (I can see this in a red bathroom… is that weird?  I think it has to do with that joke… What is black and white and read all over?  A newspaper, duh! I have no idea what I will do with this.  I just liked it.)

$2.00     Set of 3 vintage suitcases (Three little bags also came in this combo – I am planning to donate those as I don’t have a use for them.  I have big plans for the suitcases though – details on that to come.  Again, I forgot to take a photo until I was already using the third one.)

$2.00     Tiny glass container (I already gave this to a talented friend to revamp and sell at the sale.)

$10.00   Two red recliners (Sure, they are a bit worn, but they are perfect for the dogs… they can’t ruin them!  If you can believe it, someone offered to buy one of these from me before I even left the auction.  I had to turn him down because Scott was in love with the pair… and there is no way we could find one cheaper somewhere else.  The only problem is that I can’t get Scott out of them now!)

$5.00     Set of three end tables.  (These things are huge!  I already donated one to someone at the auction.  We didn’t have room for it in the Jeep/trailer and I really only wanted the two pieces.  I am planning to refinish these and then decide what to do with them.  They are a bigger project that I will tackle down the road.)

$2.00     1970’s Painting (Something about the colors and the quirkiness of this just begged me to buy it.  I am thinking I will keep it.)

$12.50   White cabinet with a metal front (I have an odd obsession with old metal ceiling tiles.  So I immediately fell in love with this.  I am picturing it in bright colors.  Again, it will be a project for down the road.)

$5.00     Vintage sewing machine and table.  (Scott bought me a sewing machine for my birthday and much to my utter shock, I am actually using it.  I thought with a little paint, this might make a great place to sew so that I can make more dog items to sell, as space to work is a big issue for me.)

$4.00     Little box with a handle on it.  (The minute I saw this little box, I fell in love with it.  I have no idea what the purpose of it is, or what the scene is from, but it makes a great place to keep all of my sewing supplies.)

$2.00     Wooden crates.  (There are two of these.  Several years ago, I saw a display of crates painted in bright colors.  I loved the way it looked, so I repainted these and am planning to use them as displays, if they don’t sell as dog toy boxes.)

$2.00     Leather art portfolio (I have no idea what I am going to do with this.  But, I know they are expensive and I am hoping I can sell it somewhere and make some money for the dogs eventually.)

$2.00     Set of four metal vintage canisters (I am hoping to redo these with a doggie motif and sell them as dog treat containers – fingers crossed.  I have yet to figure out how exactly to do that.)

Needless to say, by the end of the day, I was exhausted.  Scott had to pick me up with the trailer in tow!  I spent the rest of the night spinning in ideas to change everything I bought.   As you can tell, I have only gotten a few things done.  But, with any luck, this will be a profitable weekend.  Hopefully being hooked on auctions will help the dogs in the long-run and be fun too!