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 :)

Winthrop Estate Sale

Last weekend was a busy weekend for me – some old friends were gathering at my house for a couple of days of catch up after many years of losing touch. So much fun and so wonderful that these lovely ladies had not changed a bit!!!!  So knowing it was going to be a busy one I decided to take Friday off to get my life (or at least my house) in order.  As anticipated it was a non-stop day but I did find time to sneak an estate sale in. 

As I have mentioned one of the things I love about estate sales is exploring a new part of the city.  Well, this one happened to be in Winthrop MA (Winthrop is near Logan Airport for those not familiar).  I had never been to Winthrop – it’s one of those one way in and one way out kind of beach towns.  I have to say just from my quick visit it looks like a hidden gem – very sweet town with lots of older houses screaming charm.  I did not see one bit of new construction or 1970’s ranch!

The house was definitely 100+ years old and had so many architectural details it was cool to see and get inspiration for upcoming projects.

Exterior of the Winthrop house - corner lot with
prisitine landscaping

Bedroom - check that window out and the
scallop edged shelving next to it

Another Bedroom - I love the little nook inside the arched
wall - would make such a great window seat for curling
up with a book!

Yet another bedroom (and there were 3 more I didn't
get pics of).  Love the recessed window and believe
it or not loved all of the wallpaper.

This was a butler's pantry off the kitchen. The red
behind the shelves was so beautiful

The "dated" kitchen...it does have a charm though
doesn't it...very New England cottagey.  The door
leads to the butler's pantry in the above pic.

 Well the sale I went to was such a great one!  I had been to an estate sale several months ago where there was a book that you could sign up to be notified of future sales from the particular company that was hosting the sale, Essex Street Antiques.  Since the earlier sale was a good one I thought…why not?

This sale was an obvious home clean out and had so many lovely things and some really beautiful antique furniture at reasonable prices.   Some of the treasures I bought were:

Italian Vase - this piece
is signed so I'm going
to have to do some research
on it.

Limoge Haviland tureen & platter.  The
inside of the tureen is even decorated!

Yellow Depression Glass - it's a lovely pale yellow. I'm
always on the look out for unusual depression
glass pieces and I rarely see much in this yellow
color so it was a bonus that it was so beautiful

Hand Painted Bowl.  In the late 1920's a lot
of women were taking china painting lessons.
This has the look & feel of other pieces
I have from this period so I'm guessing
it is the same.  Whoever painted certainly
was talented!

Fab, right?

Many of the furniture pieces I loved were unfortunately sold but next time…