Sold!

One thing I've really been wanting is a proper dining room table.
Initially I thought we'd get something new
but over the past year I've come to realize that I wanted something old.

So we started keeping our eyes open at auctions.
We bid on a few
but had no success.

We also came to realize that our dining room is kind of small
and a lot of the ones we'd seen (and perhaps even bid on) were not the right size for the room.

I have a friend who loves all things house. She tried to tell me the correct dimensions that we needed for our table.
"you need two feet clearance on each side of the table so that means
 you need to get a table thats...blah blah blah....zzzz."
That sounds terrible, I know but I kind of stopped listening.
I don't buy things like that.
I don't think "will it fit in the room?"
I think -
 "will my legs fit under that old table?"
(I'm tall.)

There will be a day that I buy something that won't fit in the door because I have had no common sense but I'll cross that threshold when I get to it.

Anyway!
We went to an auction on Boxing Day and found this!

Table and 6 (very ugly) chairs.

The chairs don't look so bad from this angle

but trust me,

they are ug-ly.

They have fabric on the seats that oh, yes, can be swapped out (and will!)

but will that transform the ugly?

I'm not so sure....

Anyway - it was a bargain

the table was $150

and the ugly chairs?

$10 each.

There are 6.

The table has two leaves that extend from the ends so it will sit 6-8 people.

It isn't as old as we thought we'd get (I'd pictured a barn board table)

but for now, it does the trick.

And it wasn't a huge investment so if we ever find something we like more

this one can go on Kijiji!

Sold!

I love auctions!

(P.S. You can't see it too well in the photo but we also bought the green press backed chair in the corner for $5.)

Sold!

That's right. We went to another auction.. Oh wait, I didn't tell you about the auction we went to last weekend.

My bad.

We went to an auction last week. I forgot to take photos of the stuff we got - but maybe I still will. Deals were had!

We bought:

an antique bed frame  $15

a lathe (fella, obviously. Like I would buy a lathe. Like I even know what a lathe is for!) Still - $20.

Two sealer jars (one is by Ball and the other is by Crown. It's HUGE!) - $6

Some tins and boxes $2

I think that's it.

This weekend, we did even better! (well, I did better...)

Here goes:

oak parlour table

$35

(I love this table. My mom had a couple just like it. Aw.)

Fella bought a whack of bottles.

They look quite nice in the cigar box and the other wooden box

(we got the boxes at last week's auction.)

They look really pretty in the light.

Unfortunately, I took this photo at night so there's not a lot of evidence of the pretty.

Another table!

$20

It's a little wobbly but nothing that some glue won't fix.

I really should have moved the cat toys out of the way before I took the photo.

Those aren't dead rats on my floor.

I was tired....

different view. same table.

I forgot to mention that we also went to an estate sale in the morning

before the auction! It was just up the street.

The house was kind of a disaster (filthy dirty) but there were some cool things, including this inkwell.

The majority of the items we bought are in need of a good wash and will be photographed later.

Back to the auction!

I've wanted some insulators (the item on the left) for awhile

but I haven't found any that were nice and cheap.

This one was.

(We got another one as well that's a bit smaller but is a nice blueish-green colour. It's now a doorstop.)

The item on the left is a barometer that was made in West Germany.

It was $2.

It predicted rain yesterday.

It was right.

That's most of it.

We also got a lovely mirror with an oak frame for $35

(I forgot to take it's picture.)

And some wooden candlesticks.

Fella was standing next to the woman who owned all of the stuff.

She was getting emotional about watching her belongings be sold

(and some of them for a fraction of what she paid for them. How things change!)

She was getting upset that no one bid on her candlesticks because her father hand carved them.

She couldn't understand why no one would want them.

So guess who bought them?

That's right.

My fella.

The softie.

We were happy with our deals.

There was a cabinet that I kind of wish we bought but it was only after it sold that we realized it would be a great addition to our kitchen.

It went for $125.

Incredible.

We have a stupid kitchen.

Minimal storage space in a good sized room.

One drawer.
Yes, one.

But if we put a cabinet...never mind.

I'll take some pictures and post at a later date.

Don't get me started on the kitchen.

Boo to poor renovations.

But yay that it's the only room in the house that was renovated

considering that the floor is breaking into pieces

and needs to be completely replaced.

It's on the someday list.

But anyway - we've decided that it will be our mission to buy a cabinet the next time we find a nice one,

put it in the kitchen and have more storage.

I'd wanted to put one in the dining room but our dining room isn't huge and since we haven't found a table and chairs yet, I'd rather reserve the space for that rather than a cabinet.

Does any of that make sense?

Anyhow - in all we spent $126 at the auction.

Pretty good.

The only downside was that the auction took place in an unheated barn so I was chilled to the bone.

It was a miserable day.

But I was so happy with my tables that I warmed up pronto!

And that was that!

Happy Monday!

Sold!

We went to an auction on Saturday

(honestly, one of our favorite ways to spend a Saturday looking at and bidding on old stuff...)

As I mentioned before, we blew the budget

but don't regret a thing.

There were 4 or 5 of these.

They weigh about 60lbs each.

Initially we took a shine to them because the cases are beautiful

but once we got them home

it was the butterflies that stole our hearts.

It's an amazing collection.

We got two at $45 each

On Friday night, I dreamt about going to the auction.
There was only one thing of all the many things that I wanted.

And it was this:

It was the best $25 I've ever spent.

So cheeky!

When I got home I did some googling and discovered that it's from a barware set from the 50's.

You can also get a cocktail shaker and little glasses.

Needless to say - I will be hunting for a set of those....

The funny thing about the dream was that fella told me that I couldn't have the pink elephant ice tub.

"But it's the only thing I want!" " I cried.

"Doesn't matter." He said.

"You can't have it."

Now luckily - this would never really happen.

But I knew it had to be mine!

And now it is.

We also scored these Fire King dishes .

I'd never seen this pattern before.

The pictures aren't great but they are actually quite delicate and lovely.

(and useful! The one on the left is now our butter dish.)

$15 each

This was kind of a surprise buy.

I could see it hanging on the wall

and loved the shape of it.

The colour is a bit iffy

but I think it will be a great addition to our home.

Please stand by....

New auction finds to come. We went today and blew our budget! Photos to come as soon as I get through the church/Easter marathon!

Great Shape Barbie

One of the dolls we got in our bulk purchase was the "Great Shape Barbie".
It's still in the box and was from 1983.
I vaguely remember this Barbie but I don't think I got her....
(Have I mentioned that I loved Barbies when I was little?)

Sold! or... How many vases can YOU get for $5?

I've decided that going to auctions on week nights is not a good idea.

You get there late so you don't have a chance to preview things properly

You haven't had time to eat dinner so you can only kind of vaguely keep up to what is going on.

You get home late

and it makes for a very looong day.

However,

that didn't stop us from finding some finds!

Fella devilishly bought approximately

30 VASES

for

$5

Some of them are really ugly

but some of them are not!

This one is my favorite. It's got pictures of Japanese houses and trees on it 

and it's a really pretty shade of blue.

At first I thought he was crazy

but then I fully supported his decision.

it's a lot of vases

I like this one too.

I think this is an ice bucket

but it has no lid.

Should be good for something! 

Check out that snazzy pattern!

This is a terrible picture of a very pretty ashtray.

It's really heavy

so would be good for self-defense if the moment called for it....

We can sell the ugly ones at a yard sale this summer.

He also decided to stock up on freaky old dolls:

20 dolls

for $5

I didn't support this decision at first but he has a really fun idea of what to do with them.

More on that to follow....

Here's what else:

I paid too much for this tin.

I know that.

But we had the same one at home when I was growing up

and we kept the tinker toys in it.

My heart grew wistful when I saw it.

So I made it my own.

$12.50


(It's a Fluffo shortening tin. Not sure of the year.)

And this ended up being far more interesting than I originally thought:

I thought it was just a nice frame that I could paint/fix up.

It's solid and fairly large so it will be great for larger prints.

But when I looked closer:

I realized that someone had framed a newspaper.

There are death notices on part of the page and they are from

1911!

How cool is that?

Now I don't know what I'll do with it but I think it was worth the $17.50 I paid for it.

Total spent? 

$49

I feel that we got bargains galore.

There was a woman who bought 77 mason jars of buttons.

For $7.50 each.

That's a crazy amount of buttons.

(although, judging by the way people were watching fella pack up those vases, they thought he had a crazy amount of something too.)

Auction!

Going to an auction tonight!

Hope it's fun!

Update to follow!

Happy Monday!

:)

Sold!

Two weeks ago fella went to an auction without me.

He found some good stuff! (and he always buys me stuff, which is so sweet....)

Here are the treasures...

a little teacup that was in the box he picked up to put the rest of the haul in.

bonus!

It says 

"Made in Occupied Japan" on the bottom.

bed warmers.

that look a little "boobish"

(that's not really a word. I know.)

little jewelry boxes

fuzzy lining

the next one is my favorite

can you see the little owl?

they make a nice addition to my dresser display....

fella wants to put his scary beast in the backyard this summer to scare off our neighbouring chickens.

it's hideous

and it now resides in our living room.

lucky me.

(p.s. I tried to post this last week but the internet hates me and wouldn't let me.)

Sold!

We went to an auction on January 1st

and scored some great finds.

There were only a few things I really wanted.

This was one of them.

I got it at the very beginning of the sale;

It's a bit like the glasses I got at the auction we went to in November.

$10

Fella wanted these. I just went along with it because they were only $5.(for the pair.) 

They are old candy jars (which I don't really get because I don't know how the candy got in or out but whatever....)

I figured, why not? 

No harm no fowl! heehee

These are very cool.

Pinup girl calendars for an electric company in Guelph and Kitchener.

The photos aren't great because they're wrapped in plastic.

One is from 1944 and the other is from 1945.

Cheeky.

$15 x 2 = $30

They'll look great framed.

Fella wanted this clock:

It's cute.

$15

And now what I really wanted.

What I waited until the very end of the sale to get.

I stalked this item.

Kept track of it to make sure it didn't get tossed in with a bunch of other stuff to get rid of it

(this is what they do if there's an item that no one wants. They'll include other similar items and sell them as a lot. So you end up with stuff you may not want to get what you do.

That's how I got the white cup too. 

So they were auctioning off this:

It's hard to see in the photo but it says 

"Hamlin's Wizard Oil". 

It's cool but I wasn't really interested.

Honestly, at this point there was hardly anything left and I couldn't see my item on the table anymore.

Fella went up to check and said that it was on a bench behind the table, which was not where it's supposed to be 

but you have to keep an eye on these things.

Some shifty things can go down at auctions and of course, I always think that other people want the one thing I want 

(when in fact, most of the time what I want is worth nothing so no one is really interested) 

But since no one was bidding on the bottle, they threw in the box I wanted:

Madame Helene's Invisible Face Powder.

It's in amazing shape and very clean.

"Produces that soft velvety appearance which is admired by all".

Amazing.

It was between me and another guy but he came to his senses and stopped bidding when it was obvious that I wasn't giving up (and was willing to pay more than I should have)

The auctioneer even said to the guy

"That's what you've been waiting this whole time for!!"

Seriously - it was 3:30 when it came up.

The auction started at 10:00 a.m. 

I know. Crazy and determined. That was me.

(I was also sick and sneezing the whole time so I'm sure I infected all of the people around me.)

It and the wizard oil bottle were

$30.

Which is kind of steep but I really wanted it and decided how much it was worth to me.

No regrets!

Don't they make a lovely addition to my little tray?

I bought the tray at the Christie Antiques Show for $6.

I can't go to any auctions for awhile.

It's too much fun.

Sold (part II)

Last Thursday fella went to another auction.
He came home with a wide variety of weird and wonderful things.
Here are a few....

crazy nut dish with strange renderings of fish and cocktails on it.

It's from England.

It came in a box of other stuff so it didn't have it's own price.

a little rocker.

very sweet.

$15

And my favorite:

aren't they the cutest? 

Who could resist their little smiles and button noses!

They're from Japan!

I think they were $20 for the set 

(and the fish dish)

There must have been four in the set with the pitcher but there are now only three - a lemon, a lime and a grape. 

Love them.

Worth every penny!