I made it on to the front page of the Chicago Now blog network page (in case you didn't know, I'm in the orange coat, top row).I blogged last month about my thrifting adventure/interview with Diana Durkes, the sweet and talented writer/editor of the Garage Sale Warrior blog on the Chicago Now Network (The Chicago Tribune's experiment with new media). Anyways, she sent me an e-mail earlier this week asking if I would like to accompany her to two estate sales in Waukegan. You don't have to ask me that question twice, I cleared my schedule and off we went to the North Suburbs!
Surprisingly there were two sales within a half mile of each other in Waukegan and they both opened on Thursday (most estate sales here start on Friday). The first one we went to was in a cramped bungalow-style home, customers kept bumping into each other as they rounded the corner of the hall and we had to shuffle one at a time down the basement steps. It was evident from the contents of the home that this was a man's sale (usually estate sales tend to be feminine with a few items like tools in the basement). There was a WHOLE WALL of beer steins, dozens of wine glasses and barware and racks of plaid shirts and sports sweatshirts. Unfortunately a lot of the items were of newer vintage (80s) or was downright tacky.
You can see pictures that Diana took of the sale here: Waukegan SlideshowI ended up mainly shopping out of the kitchen-- 1960s mugs made in West Germany for 50 cents each and a colorful spoon rest in the shape of a pear. Diana discovered an entire cachet of Le Creuset pans hiding in a basement cabinet. As most of you know, Le Creuset is the kitchenware of any aspiring chef. It'd always known about this premium French line but hadn't come across any over my years of thrifting. The set at this sale seemed to be from the 1970s but had never been used, all the pans still had their original stickers! Although I was tempted to get several pieces, I ended up choosing an omelette-sized cast iron pan for $25. The price seems a little steep for an estate sale, but these pans cost at least $135 at retail stores!
My favorite items at the sale were something I couldn't buy-- this set of brightly patterned 1970s lawn/deck chairs. I had Diana take a photo of me so I could remember them (my 1960s orange winter coat also seemed to match nicely!)Even if you're not in the Chicago area you should check out the Garage Sale Warrior blog. Diana not only posts previews of local rummage and estate sales, she also interviews dealers and collectors, does diy projects with alley finds and offers tips on what items to 'flip' on etsy and ebay. One of my favorite entries is her interview of mystery author and yard sale addict Sharon Fiffer. Sharon has written a series of books featuring the character Jane Wheeler, who stumbles across cases while shopping at estate sales. While I'm not into the mystery genre, I'm definitely intrigued by her series!