Fall Vacation Estate Sales

I have not had nearly as much time as I have wanted this summer to frequent estate sales.  You know how much I love starting my weekend with a leisurely Saturday morning drive to a few where I can scope out the houses.

Well, last week I decided to take an impromptu vacation from my paying job to try to finish up that never ending Summer Project 2012 (you can see my progress here and here and here).  So while my week was primarily spent painting, painting and painting some more I did decide that Friday I would take a little break to enjoy an estate sale or two…

Friday’s first sale was maybe 20 min or so from my house in Melrose but I just knew it was going to be a good one.  It was run by some of my favorite sale hosts Essex Street Antiques.  

Melrose House

This fireplace fit perfectly the style of this house...it's not for every
house but I love the "earthiness" of it.

This is definitely not everyone's look but I find something endearing
about it...not sure I would be able to live with such a busy room for
a long period of time but I love them when I see them in other homes.

They always have great sales and their prices are extremely reasonable.  Not everything is always shall we say “bargain priced” but I find everything to be priced fair and there is always something at every price point.

Beautiful dishes I wanted these so badly...but my pragmatic self took
over and reminded me I didn't need them...unfortunate!

I did however totally score at this sale!

I couldn't pass this Towle tray up...it's kind of a unique size 21"W x 9"L
now I just have to decide whether to hang it or not

Darn it, these were sold by the time I got there...don't they just invite you
to sit & spend a bit of time relaxing?

The next sale was 30+ min away from the Melrose sale but had really good potential…100 years of accumulation can’t be bad right?  Well, it turned out to be not really my kind of sale.  There were a lot of cool things but most of it was terribly dirty.  I’m not afraid of a little dirt but this was more than I really wanted to deal with.  So no finds here.

So of course if I was going to hit the Friday sales I might as well put one on my list for Saturday morning…I mean it was just down the street in Marblehead and looked so promising.

This lovely little lane lead to a charming little oceanfront neighbothood
and the Marblehead sale

Site of the Marblehead sale...distinctly a cottage

Saturday however took me to a little summer “camp” in Marblehead.  It was tucked away in a part of Marblehead I didn’t even know existed and was so reminiscent of the summer cottages of Bayside or Temple Heights Maine (near my childhood home) that I felt right at home.

This was a livingroom that spanned the whole front of the cottage

There were 4 bedrooms upstairs but none of the rooms had ceilings...
interesting but charming in a camp kind of way

This was a really cool camp – definitely needs some TLC but I so loved that you could feel the history of everyone who had spent many joyful summers here over the years.

1 of 2 "Jenny Lind" or spool beds that were for sale

and the other one...can you guess which one came home with me???
Yup this one...couldn't believe they even had the side rails.  It needs a little
buffing but for $20 (yes twenty - I didn't forget a 0) it was the bargain'
of the day!

The lady who was running the sale told me that the owner had passed away and her children no longer wanted to keep it as a summer home so it was on the market (see the listing here).  So sad but I’m sure another family will enjoy this camp for many years to come…if I were in the market for a camp it would surely be my family enjoying it!

Ocean view from this lovely little camp...I'm ready to move in :)