Thrift Report: Picker Style

Happy Monday! I think I might finally be somewhat recovered from the Doves. :) It was a very long day but it actually wrapped up about 2 hours earlier than it did last year! We got down to Atlanta right about 1 and loaded in all our gear. Our company recorded the pre-show, where they actually gave out the majority of the awards, and we will be broadcasting it tomorrow evening. You can tune into live.hearitfirst.com at 5:30 eastern to see our red carpet coverage, the pre-show, and my backstage interviews. Just be warned that I am a little goofy on camera. :)

On to my finds! I had been stalking some shelves on Craigslist and calling the guy to try to set up a time to come see them. We are having a little bit of work done on our kitchen starting tomorrow and I thought I found these awesome industrial-esque shelves that would look great and provide more storage. When I went to look at them, the address ended up being a huge warehouse FULL of stuff. As soon as I walked in, I suddenly felt like a picker! I was asking "Is this for sale? How much for this?"

I didn't end up liking the shelves (each shelf had pegs inserted into the end that rested on chrome bars... so the pegs stuck out on the side... not exactly the cool industrial, sleek vibe I was going for) but I found a pair of amazing 60s Broyhill armchairs. The owner of the warehouse, a really nice 90 year old man, told me they came out of a really rich person's house. After we talked for awhile, he slipped and said they came from his house. I jumped on the opportunity to ask him if he was a "secret millionaire" and the guy working for him in the warehouse winked at me.

Turns out, the man was a longtime auctioneer and had accumulated 3 warehouses full of items and 20 semi trucks full, he said. My picker gears were turning and itching to see the rest of his stuff but he said he didn't have much furniture. I kept telling him I was interested in vintage and he said I could come look sometime, but he didn't seem to think he would have much else I would be interested in.

It was such a fun experience though, to walk around his warehouse and check everything out. He and the guy working for him were so nice. I bought the chair below from him and I love it, but I will be putting it in my booth... even though it coordinates with our curtains perfectly! We just don't have the room for it, unfortunately.

I also stopped by an "estate sale" - I hate when sales are advertised as estate sales and you can't actually go in the house. They were still pulling things out so I was concerned that I missed out on some things. Also, the prices were high, but I found a really cool cookie and pastry press that looks like it was never used and had all but one of the decorative discs included. It even has the original booklet with it!

Fun, huh?

Well, I was pretty concerned last week when I stopped by my booth and had only sold $15 worth of merchandise! I upped my efforts to let people know about the booth and new items and sold some more items and happily, I have made my rent and then a little more. Whew! What a relief. I really didn't want to owe money this month!

What have YOU found recently?? Have you ever had a "picking" experience where you got to shop by yourself direct from someone who had a TON of stuff? It was so fun!

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