G'day lovelies, well the Beach Cottage Witch is still here a little bit…let's hope she goes away soon heh?  

Let's talk about good stuff tho, shall we?

Last weekend there was a notice in the garage sale section for a 'Deceased Estate', a 2 minute drive away, a few roads along – sitting there with a coffee on the deck, still in my dressing gown, I pointed it out to Mr BC…I wasn't really in the mood though, you know?  To be honest, I've scored so much lately and been working on painting stored-up things in the garage, that I wasn't full of enthusiasm.

Being 9.30 we'd missed, probably, the best stuff, but nothing exemplifies my motto of you never know what you will find more than this garage sale and like the new houses where we expected nothing but found the old weathered deckchairs at this Deceased Estate we got a boot load of treasure for twenty-one dollars. 

When we pulled up, there was no-one outside and no signs, bar a bunch of balloons, it was so quiet, I wondered if we were in fact, gate-crashing a children's party…

Perhaps, it is eccentric to evaluate garage sales on their vintage-treasure-giving-properties, but I do that in the first 30 seconds. One quick all-encompassing potential sweep and that to linger on a stranger's front yard, it has to be good, it can be messy or ahem a bit grubby, I can deal with that, being the real woman I am .  But, one thing, it must not, in any shape or form try to be anything other than what it, essentially is:  a way for the holder to make a bit of cash, save a trip to the dump and more importantly, recycle their unwanted goods. 

Garage sales, for me, must offer at least one vintage thing…next it must have a friendly seller, preferably one willing to give history of items (like the old trunk that came with a history)…and it must have that real feel, you know the kinda rawness that so-called designer-'junkers' we might see on the TV or those who frequent home-boutiques with $45 rattan bells, would baulk at…gotta love me a bit of that kinda real.

Anyway, this one was probably right on up there in the Top 10 of garage sales…offering a plethora of vintage delights, organised, labelled and sorted, prices beautifully realistic…resident 86 yr old grandma full of tales…and a lovely old red-brick Australian bungalow to set the scene…(yes, to me, these old brick bungalows are history unfolding…)

There were so many things to look at in terms of linens and china and piles of books, I didn't quite envisage finding a 'Glory Box' at all.  But after some initial gathereing of a few things, a dollar here, 50 cents there, I made my way to a back bedroom…and a chest of drawers, all marked up and labelled with $10 and the most delightful old vintage round mirror, asking the grand old price of $4. 

The vintage-seeking-Beach-Cottage-Treasure-Hunting Squeal of Delight?  Yes, I do think so. 

I have been looking for a dresser to replace the horrid, bottom-falling-out-it-is-so-badly-made one from IKEA in the Study that holds our regular linens and to have a vintage mirror to hang right on over it and for it all to be mind-blowingly in my budget, it was almost too good.

And it just got better and better, as the seller scrawled sold for my oh-so-massive purchase of drawers and mirror for fourteen bucks, in strolled 86 yr old grandma who proceeded to exclaim in excitement 'oh yes we sold the Glory Box!", looking over quizically she told me it was hers, 60 years ago, after the war and she had spent years saving her money and filling it with linens, dish ware and bedding…it was her steps on the road to marriage, she told us…stuff saved for and gathered while 'courting'…and engagement…and eventually to marriage, her words 'a very happy one'. 

I sighed, lapping it up, only to be shooed out By 86yr old's daughter who had assumed I didn't want to listen to her ramblings of her old Glory Box and those days…shame…later I went to find her but was told she'd 'gone missing', apparently a regular occurrence *smile.

So that morning was as I said, a Top Ten, and yep there'll be another ten that are there to put you off but I do believe, garage-saling is a state of mind…demanding of both the bargain-hunter and seller…this time we all played our parts and I for one was very happy…

Enjoy your weekend, I hope you might find something as good as this for $10. 

I'll be painting the little beauty, bright, beachy white, keeping those beautiful handles intact, and bringing the old glory into the study to sit beside me as I sit at the computer…stacked full of linens, just like it did all those years ago..

 blogged for Cindy's Show and Tell, at My Romantic Home, thanks!

and a Beautiful Life at Melissa's!