Some Cool Garage Sale Finds

One of our favorite things about summer, besides actually getting some sun in Rain Country and working our garden, is hitting garage and yard sales. So many great finds for just a bit of money. We typically will not buy anything unless it has a purpose.

Patrick found the old gas can above for only fifty cents! This was back when pour spouts were made to actually WORK!

The green, circa 1970's Avon bottles I fell for because I thought they were lovely, but I am hoping they will clean up well enough to make good vinegar and oil containers. Again, I like to make sure they have a function rather than just a pretty thing that needs to be dusted and take up space.

One thing I tend to collect a lot is old or at least reprints of old books, especially kids books to have on hand for that day when I have grandbabies. The older the better to me. None of these Little Golden Books are very old in age, but they are all classics from the 50's and 60's that I remember having a couple of myself. The Fire Engine one was a MUST as our oldest son is a Lieutenant on the local fire department.

This cool little oil lamp has been quite the surprise. I almost did not buy it because I am not partial to pink, especially in this type of design. Just a bit too fru-fru for my taste, however, I love how tiny it is and I do have an affinity to oil lamps of all sizes and I had never seen one this small. We had guessed the thing may only burn for about 15 minutes to a half hour. But boy, were we surprised. It also gave out a bit more light than I expected, a little brighter than a night light, just enough to be able to get around a room, making it especially good for smaller places like the bathroom.

Any guesses on the length of burn time we got?

Another thing I grab up when I find them is cast iron trivets. Though there are a couple I have purchased to add as decor to my kitchen wall, most of the ones I get are for using on my wood stove and it often seems I never have enough no matter how many I get. Part of this is because each one is different in height and width so they all serve different purposes for me.
This one I found yesterday I almost did not pick up because it was one of those someone along the way had hand painted. Which personally, I do not care for, I think the paint detracts from the the beauty and certainly robs it of its vintage appeal. Plus, the paint job was severely lacking. I asked Patrick if it was possible to burn the paint off and he said yes so I went ahead and grabbed it. As you can see, he succeeded in getting it back to its original state.

Here is what he used to burn the paint off with, a Coleman camp stove, full of fuel even, that we picked up at a different garage sale for $3! While we already have two camp stoves, plus a camp oven, a rocket stove, the wood stove, a barbecue, and two solar ovens, I like having many back ups and different ways to cook. So it was worth it to grab another. Besides, if we decide we do not need it down the road, I am sure our kids may like to have one.

We also found lots of nice pillar candles that not only make another back up light source, the ugly ones I melt down and use for making my own fire starters. I will likely do a post about how I do that another day.

If you enjoy this type of post then one of these days, I will go through and take photos of some of our other favorite second hand finds - including the 1940's working drill press that Patrick picked up for only $10!

Hope you all are having a great weekend! ~Heidi

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