We all have aims in life. One of my not-so-public ones has been to be a really good yard saler who can find amazing bargains. I don’t really talk about it because I don’t really do anything to become this person. I don’t want to get up at 5am on a Saturday to scope out the sales, and then have to park on the street to poke around in someone’s junk in their front yard. But with the scent of a good bargain, it sure is tempting. So the other day I happened to see yard sale ads in the newspaper (really, I wasn’t looking for it, it just caught my eye) and happened to see that one was literally just down the street. It was the best kind of sale too, a moving sale! That’s when you know people mean business. It also had the key word “patio furniture” in it. So I thought that if I woke up early enough it would be fun to scamper down there to check it out.
Saturday morning rolled around, and I fell out of bed around 8amish. A perfect time for yard saling if I do say so myself! Except that it was a little rainy. Oh well. Maybe it kept some people at bay so I had a better chance of scoring a super-duper deal! The Cube and I putt putted down the street for all of 30 seconds. The place was hopping! My bargain sense kicked into high gear, and I went in with elbows ready. Thank goodness it didn’t come to that. I actually didn’t see a thing I wanted. I was ready to resignedly leave until a woman asked about the patio furniture. I whipped my head around to see what she was talking about. I didn’t see any furniture! I thought maybe it had already sold. The woman replied that it was around back and started leading her to the back yard (I promise this doesn’t turn into a murder mystery thriller). So I scrambled after them, asking if I could tag along. She brings us to their back deck where they have 2-3 patio sets of tables and chairs at prices over $100. Really, you think you can sell anything at a yard sale for over $100? I think that should be against the rules! I didn’t see anything I liked. Then, as we were walking back to the house, I saw a little two seater cushion loveseat. I asked how much it was. The woman looked at me and said, “I didn’t even think about selling that.” Looooooooong pause. “How about $25?” I replied, “Ohhh I have a $20 bill. Would you take that?” Loooooooong pause. SOLD! Sweet!
Off it got toted to the Cube where it barely fit., but it did fit Good ole Cube! I swung into the driveway, ripped it out of the car, and ran into the house, just hoping Eric was already up. Thankfully he was just waking up to go to work so I could share my excitement! He finally made his way out to the driveway to see its dealio in all of its yard sale glory.
Ok, stick with me. I know it’s not all that it is built up to be, but just wait until I get it in position and show you the mood board it inspired!
But I wasn’t done yet! I was full of the yard sale glee and I wanted to go to others! I jumped on Craigslist to check out the listings and planned out my sales. I hopped back into the Cube once again to live up to my aspirations. This is where reality started kicking in.
First sale: I had to park really far away. There was nothing but junk. I left empty handed.
Second sale: LAME! I just drove by and kept on going. If you are going to have a yard sale, please build up your stock to make it worthwhile.
Third Sale: All kids stuff. Not there yet. Another drive by.
Fourth sale (just happened to be on the way home): It started raining. It was like two things on a table. My bagel waiting for me at home called louder than the sale.
So, aspirations to be super-duper yard sale Megan were deflated at the end. I think this got the yard sale bug out of me until next year. I also think I will stick to the neighborhood. There is usually 3-4 a week so I should go with those non-committal ones. Heck, sometimes I run by them. Thankfully I had a success story. Let’s get to the reveal shall we?
My aim has been to find some bargain priced patio furniture for the unscreened part of the back deck so it can be more lounge-y. I had been perusing Craigslist for a while but nothing in my price range was really doing it for me. So when I found Mr. $20, I knew he fit the bill and budget. The back deck was up for a little reorganization.
Mr. $20 made the back deck go from this:
To this:
Here’s another view:
Okay, okay, nice but not as nice as my build up. It is all the inspiration that he conjured up that is really exciting! I had lots of fun scouring online home stores the rest of the day. This is what I came up with, although I haven’t bought it yet.
Can’t you envision the nice little seating area now? I like to think about it during my favorite time, at the dusk hour. It is late summer. I hear kids playing outside and a lawn mower in the distance as I relax on the back porch with all our lovely trees and a good book in hand. Stay tuned as I scour end of season sales to try and punch up the back deck!
[…] Furnished with furniture we already had plus a yard sale love seat […]