My Favorite Finds: Garage Sales

Along with several Hot Wheels and random trinkets my kids picked up over the summer, I found a great variety of treasures at garage / yard sales this summer.

I picked up lots of vintage dictionaries this summer. Including My First Picture Dictionary above. It is filled with illustrations that are so charming. Some of the pages are loose from the binding, so I may use them to decorate the kids' playroom.

This massive, unabridged Webster's dictionary published in 1950 was a huge hit with my son.

Yes, I am aware that this is not completely normal. :)

But look at this baby - can you blame him?

It is in very good shape for it's age. 

No missing pages, as far as I can tell. 

But it has 2006 pages of definitions alone, that doesn't include all the amazing book plates and over three hundred pages in the appendix.

 The illustrations of all the states and continents is really cool. They would look great framed, but I don't want to tear this guy apart for the sake of wall art. Only if it was falling apart on its own.

This heavily painted ladder was bought for $1.00 at the garage sale of an elderly man (90+ years). He was a carpenter and built this himself. He had all sorts of fabulous treasures. The ladder has at least 3 more colors of paint under this green. 

These drawers (presumably from a sewing machine?) were used in his workshop out back to store hardware and odds and ends. I couldn't pass them up. I think these would look great cleaned up and painted.

I found more drawers from his workshop with makeshift dividers. I actually got all 6 - each one has at least one divider added. These are much bulkier than the petite drawers above. I love their paint color as it is, a sort of blue-green grey.

This sweet reindeer was found with 4 others. It is about 30" tall. The others each have wooden stakes attached. The gentleman cut them out himself and his wife painted them. When he saw that I wanted the lot, he went to the back of his workshop and dug out his pattern - the original cut out piece of wood - and gave it all to me for free. {Not that I didn't try to pay him.} 

The turquoise Smith-Corona with case shown at the top of this post and here was found under a coffee table on the last day of a sale. It was closed up and I don't think anyone had noticed it was there. I got it for a steal! It's in great shape and the ribbon still works.

This mini bundt pan had a great patina. I got it for 50 cents. I plan on using it to store bits and pieces in my craft room. I don't think I want to scrape off all it's character, so I will probably line it with paper cups or doilies.

My keyplates from in this previous post were all found at one garage sale. I was picking and choosing which ones I wanted to pay for when the man said he'd make me a deal if I took them all. Um, OK! :)

One of my absolute favorite finds of the summer was the Replogle Globe. I found this one at the same garage sale as the ladder. The coloring is in a gorgeous pale palette. I used it in my Back to School vignette. It is currently on top of my bookcases in the family room for all to see. 

This post is getting pretty long - I may have too many favorites. I think I'll split them up into 2 posts.

Until then... tell me

Do you like shopping at garage sales? Admittedly, many are more gar(B)age sales than hidden treasures. But every now and then, finding the diamond in the rough is so fun! 

What's your favorite garage/yard sale find? I'd love to know!

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