We all have perfectly good furniture and art pieces that no longer fit with our decor and yard sales are a good way to get rid of them while earning enough to buy something new that really fits. And visiting those sales is one of the most inexpensive ways to add new life to your home decorating style. The piece that doesn’t fit in someone else’s home may be just what you were looking for! – And at a fraction of the piece of a new piece!
If you have never been to a garage sale, it is easy to come home with a carload of bargains you have neither use nor room for. A chair for a dollar is no bargain if you already have ten more chairs than you need. As a veteran yard-saler myself, let me offer these tips for the yard-sailing newbie:
1. Make a list of what you need and stick to it. And that means even if you discover a cheap treasure you “might be able to use sometime.” Believe me, in six months you will be selling it at your own yard sale – for half the price!
2. Measure your room, windows and available space for certain furniture needs. And speaking from experience, remember to take the list with you!
3. Make a list of addresses and short instructions about how to get there. Check the classifieds and free shopper ads for times and rules. Some people get very grumpy if you interrupt their sleep by showing up at their home two hours before the sale starts.
4. Keep small bills in your hand and leave large bills in your purse. If you take out a big roll of large bills, there is not a vendor alive who will give you a lower bargain price for the item you want. They want their share of that roll!
5. Go early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Getting to a yard sale before its “picked over” assures you can find more that you might be able to use. When you visit a yard sale later in the afternoon, vendors are more likely to take much less for the items they still have because they don’t want to pack them back in the garage! You might be able to find some good bargains for furniture that was overpriced earlier.
6. Take a partner with you. Share with your partner what each of you is looking for and spread out. You can cover twice as much distance in half the time!
7. Pick up everything you think you might want. You can always put it back. And if you don’t pick it up when you see it, chances are someone else will spy it and buy it!
8. Choose furniture with good bones such as solid wood construction and dovetailing. Its much easier to refinish a good piece. Shoddily made furniture will still be shoddy after you redo it.
9. If you find drapes, scarves, sheets or bedspreads in a fabric that blends with your decor, buy it to use for reupholstering a used chair, to make pillows for your room or dozens of other uses.
10. Picture frames, even empty ones, can be painted or stained to create new looks. You can always find unframed art you like and with the help of creative matting, you can make it all work together.
And one more thing – I have no scientific proof for this opinion, but I have found it true time after time – the bigger the sign, the lousier the yard sale. Its as if they are using a large sign to make up for the lack of merchandise to attract buyers.
So next Saturday, make your list, take your measurements, grab a good friend and start your new decorating project. You will have fun; get plenty of exercise and save money. What better way to spend a day?
(ARA) – As days grow shorter and temperatures become cooler, it means the inevitable is just around the corner: everything that came out of your garage this spring needs to go back in before winter rolls around. That means you need to find room for the gardening supplies, the patio furniture, the sandbox toys and more. Not to mention corralling all the tools that you’ve used throughout the summer to tune up the bikes, fix the swing set and put together the new bathroom vanity.
If you’re wondering where its all going to go, maybe its time to spend part of the weekend creating some order in all that chaos. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Divide and conquer
Start by separating the clutter in your garage into piles. For example, all snow shoveling equipment (shovel, ice scraper, salt) should be together, all sports paraphernalia goes in another pile, lawn care items in yet another pile you get the picture. This will give you an idea of what you’re dealing with in terms of organizing.
Be sure to have a throw it out pile and a donate it pile. Throw away broken toys, almost empty cans of paint, and rusty garden tools. Donate sports equipment your kids have outgrown or that extra lawn edger.
Now you know what you need to store. Home improvement stores are a good place to start. Look for storage systems that match your needs. If your family owns bikes, consider hooks designed to hang them from the ceiling or a vertical bike rack to get the bikes off the floor and create more space. A tall storage cabinet provides a place to put out-of-season toys and tools. Shelving units or wall-mounted cabinets supply a convenient spot for sporting equipment.
Take care of your tools
For many homeowners, the garage doubles as a work area. If your tools have become scattered over the summer, or if theyre in a pile on your workbench, nows the time to corral them. A pegboard and a good tool chest will help keep tools safe and handy. Waterloo Industries, the worlds largest manufacturer of tool storage products for professionals and do-it-yourselfers, has a variety of high-quality options.
Our Shop Series is perfect for use in the garage or workroom, says Mark Ryan, senior product manager at Waterloo. The line includes tool chests, tool cabinets, and tool centers in varying sizes and drawer configurations to fit any need. These types of products are popular with the weekend warriors, those individuals who love getting their hands dirty once Saturday rolls around. There are units that offer a bulk storage area for those large items or power tools. Many chests offer split drawers for all your small hand tools as well as a roomy top tray. If you’ve found that your tools have multiplied over the summer, and you’ve outgrown the storage in your current chest and cabinet, why not consider adding an intermediate chest to expand your tool storage capacity? Intermediates are available in most categories and stack in between your chest and cabinet to help organize your tool clutter.
Start with a clean sweep
Before you start putting all your organized stuff back into the garage, take the time to sweep the floor and hose it down to get rid of accumulated dirt and dust. If your car has been leaking oil, use a product made for this problem to get it cleaned up as well.
With a little time and compartmentalizing, it will be easier than ever to find what you’re looking for, your garage will seem roomier and it will be a more pleasant place to work.
You’ll find a wide array of tool boxes and other tool storage ideas at hardware and home improvement stores such as Sears, Menards and other retail outlets.
For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website.
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There’s a new home decor store opening by a couple of other well-known ones near Central and Woodlawn.
