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Yard Sale Photo Contest

Get your cameras ready, it’s time to kick off a month-long yard sale photo contest! During the month of October we will be posting your yard sale photos that you submit to us on our Facebook and Blog. Three winners with the best photo will receive an autographed copy of “The Garage Sale Millionaire” authored by our friend and Monday Guest Blogger, Aaron LaPedis! Aaron will have the honors of choosing the best photo submitted for each category and winners will be notified and recognized in early November!

There are three categories you can submit your photos to for a chance to win:

Best Yard Sale Bargain Item
Most Outrageous Yard Sale Item Found
Best Yard Sale Sign

So whether you’re hosting a garage sale and think you can design the best, most attractive, most outrageous sign or you score a great bargain or find something that’s worth being shown on Ripley’s Believe it or Not , send us your photos and let Aaron be the judge!

Make sure your photos are PG-13 – we’ll be sharing them with our Blog audience and Facebook Fans. To qualify, your photos must be submitted by October 31, 2012, Midnight MST. Photos must be your own and not pre-existing and taken from the Internet – let’s be fair now! You can submit as many photos as you like!

To enter: Post your photo finds on our Facebook Page or email them to us directly! Be sure to include details about your find!

Are you ready to have some fun! We can’t wait to see all the crazy cool pictures that you’ll be submitting! Good luck!

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More Funny Yard Sale Signs

This is our favorite in this series, looks to be a homemade pinata! Is it a turkey or a cock? We’ll let you decide…

This is clever, use your lawn ornaments to hold up your Estate Sale sign. Personally, we think the deer should have had an orange vest wrapped around it, that would have drawn some more attention.

Probably the ugliest and least creative estate sale sign we’ve seen… At least they’re like the rest of us and can’t deal with those crazy early birds.

Trash or treasure? Let the buyer be the judge.

I’m beginning to hear about a new habit that could be a huge detriment to your garage sale profits. Apparently sellers are throwing away items before their sale even begins, assuming that they are worthless. Unless the item is a dirty litter box or a stained food container like a baby bottle, you really should [...]

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Measuring your Carbon Footprint

Our blog, Second Hand Social, is not just about sharing awesome yard sale finds and featuring great ideas from those who work in the Second Hand Industry, we also want to educate our readers on how they can be proactive in environmentally conscious living. We’re not sure how many bonus points you get if you regularly shop thrift stores or buy tools and decorations for your home second hand, but we imagine the savings and feeling of shopping second hand feels pretty good to start! Inevitably, in going about daily life — commuting, sheltering our families, eating — each of us contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. Fortunately, there are many things each of us, as individuals, can do to reduce our carbon emissions. The choices we make in our homes, travel, food we eat, and what we buy and throw away all influence our carbon footprint and can help ensure a stable climate for future generations.

Experts have long suggested the most effective way to decrease a carbon footprint is to either decrease the amount of energy needed for production or decrease the dependence on carbon emitting fuels. Mitigation of carbon footprints through the development of alternative projects, (solar, wind energy or reforestation) represents one way of reducing a carbon footprint and is often known as Carbon offsetting.

Simply put, think about your upcoming purchases. Do you really need to buy that designer dress brand new or can you find it in a local Consignment Shop, possibly even half off? What about some gardening tools, how about shopping a couple Yard Sales or browsing for some used tools online that you can buy second hand? You can probably score big by shopping a Pawn Shop for some fancy electronics for your home! Remember, taking some small and simple steps to reusing, repurposing and recycling can make a huge difference in your carbon footprint and the environment. Do your best to help preserve and save our planet!

Want to measure your carbon footprint? Check this cool calculator from The Nature Conservancy!

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The early bird doesn’t always get the worm

When discussing garage sales, everyone seems to say things like “Go early.” “Show up before they’re set up.” “Be there before the sun rises.” “If you hear roosters crowing, you’re too late,” …get the idea? We tend to assume that earlier is better. In terms of getting first crack at the best items, this is definitely the truth, but there is definitely an advantage in arriving late.

When it comes down to the eleventh hour of a garage sale, most people just want things gone. If it’s left behind, they have to either pack it up and donate it, or put it back in their house. Either way, it’s a lot of work that most people would prefer to avoid. That’s why sellers tend to start grouping items and lowering prices at the end of their sale. At this point, you can comfortably offer the seller one tenth of what you would have offered at the start. If you show up in the last hour of a sale, I guarantee that you’ll get a better deal than you could have imagined.

So when you head out on your next garage sale adventure, be sure to swing back by your favorite spots at about 3 or 4pm when things are winding down. There may not be a lot of awesome items you’d want to take home and keep, but if you want to be a garage sale millionaire, you have to keep in mind that it isn’t about keeping things. It’s about reselling them. You need to find something you can easly flip for twice what you paid. If you keep this in mind and your smart phone – or other price checking guide - in hand, you should have some serious success. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

Happy hunting!

Aaron

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Decorating on a Dime: Upcycling Yard Sale Treasures

You never know what you’ll find at a yard sale, and with some finds, the possibilities for re-use and upcycling are limitless. This is what makes second hand shopping and “decorating on a dime” so exciting! Today we’re thrilled to introduce Linda Pokora of Designer’s Limited, an Interior Designer based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Linda shares once of her recent yard sale finds with us and shows us how to bring it to life in your home with a little creativity and imagination – this is an easy DIY project for anyone and the finished piece is a true gem!

“I found an old wooden flat used for flowers (greenhouses use plastic now) at a yard sale for $4.00. I lightly sanded it and gave it 2 coats of a water-based chalk paint (Annie Sloan’s). I imagine you could use almost any water-based paint. I intentionally left the name of the Greenhouse on the inside of the end to give it some interest. I stenciled it with a very inexpensive stencil I found at Michaels with a metallic paint. Then I sanded it in a few spots to show some wear. I buffed it with a clear wax (again Annie Sloan) but you could use any quality furniture wax found in antique or furniture stores. I added 2 inexpensive handles I bought for $1.98 each at Home Depot on each end.”

The tray is being used on a coffee table in an outdoor seating area. While it is an accent piece, it’s one that comes in handy for carrying snacks in from the kitchen or staging drinks!

Here are the before and after shots of this awesome find:

Linda has had her own design business for 20 years. Her firm specializes in new construction, residential design and staging. She’s also volunteering her time and talents for Chic Chateau, an up-cycled charity showhouse that benefits Habitat for Humanity of Greensboro. The showhouse opens September 21, 2012. Everything designers use in Chic Chateau must be up-cycled. And what would appear to be a limiting criteria actually squeezes a lot of creativity out of designers.

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Garage Sale Memories

Today is National Garage Sale Day, 2012! To celebrate this fun day, we’re sharing some amazing finds and fun memories from garage sale enthusiasts!

“My amazing find was a new $1,700 computer projector for $20. The box was open but the projector hadn’t even been taken out of the box. I asked the owner how much and she said $75. I asked her if she would take $20 and she did.”
- John G.

“My favorite story incorporates a great lesson learned: If you don’t see what you’re looking for, ASK! I asked the woman at one sale if she had any comic books. She called out her son, who was just home from college. Ten minutes later, I walked out with a bunch of 1960s gems for $5.00 (including a SPIDER-MAN #8)!”
- Mike P.

“About 10 years ago, when my parents and I were selling all our belongings with a garage sale in Virginia because we were moving abroad, a foreign family approached us about my mom’s car. They were $500 short in cash from my mom’s calling price, so they offered her blocks of gold that were worth $1,000. At the time, my mom didn’t know what you really did with a block of gold and seeing the desperation of need for a car in the family’s eyes, she gave the car to them at a discount price of $500. However, it was a pretty unusual and funny experience for our family to be offered blocks of gold as payments.”
- Robin S.

“My best garage sale find was a vintage singer sewing machine with case. I bought it for $5 and turned around and sold it on Ebay for $90. Best find ever!”
- Jeanine B.

“My favorite garage sale experience has nothing to do with something I bought, but rather a conversation I overheard. While shopping at a garage sale in Huntington Beach, CA, I overheard two elderly ladies discussing the sex appeal of Andy Garcia. Both ladies, probably in their late 60s, agreed that his sexy days are long gone and that he has now “hit the wall.” As you can see, garage sale treasures come in all forms.”
- David W.

“One Saturday, I had a babysitter and four dollars to blow so I went on a hunt for the “Weirdest thing I could find, for a dollar.” After several stops, I happened upon this amazing sculpture that looked like it was made of old train parts. It was spectacular, but they wanted $5 for it (which was definitely a good price) so I told her my quest and she decided to sell it to me for $1. Fifteen years later, it has become a “WiSH Portal” and the pinnacle attraction of my Traveling Faery Realm Museum.”
- Valerie P.

“My best find was an impulse stop at a sale in a very small nearby town.I bought a sculpture thinking it was of a musical composer and I would give it to my son.Turns out it was made in Germany,was very rare and worth over $150.00.I paid fifty cents.”
- Jim C.

“My 30 year-old daughter and I spend Saturday mornings together looking through piles of other people’s stuff, we talk, we laugh, and most days we come home with a car full of unique and/or useful items. It’s a long Maine winter awaiting those first spring days of the yard sale season!”
- Jeanne F.

A special thanks to all those who contributed for this fun piece today! Have an awesome Garage Sale Day!

Reeling Them In

I just received a fantastic tip from one of my readers in Texas and I’m really excited to share it everyone. When you’re having a garage sale, make a display of “man things” close to the street. When women drive by, they’ll have an easier time convincing their husbands to stop and shop around a [...]

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Decorating on a Dime: I Live with My Mom

We’re really excited to introduce and feature Tracy Metro in our “Decorating on a Dime” series on Second Hand Social. Tracy is an on-air designer who is currently designing rooms on I Live with My Mom on Spaces TV, all-new home & design channel on YouTube, am designing and building spaces on Oprah Winfrey Network’s show Home Made Simple and am designing a doggie “coming out” ala a debutante’s ball on HGTV’s upcoming special called Posh Pets (airing June 22nd). I’ve designed spaces from homes, to gardens to even a houseboat. If it can be rethought, remade, redesigned I’m REdoing it! Tracy is the Ringmaster of her Domestic Circus… she’s a Foodini, Craftortionist, a Thrift Freak, Clutter Tamer, Strong Woman and Party Thrower. Check out her awesome work:

I’ve bought everything from bathing suits to boats in places ranging from yard sales, to estate sales, to pawn shops and everywhere in between. I don’t discriminate. If it’s a deal and I love it, I BUY IT! Oh, and I’m a diehard dumpster diver. Most of my dining room chairs were scored on the street.

Deciding what to share here has been extremely difficult! It’s like choosing ones’s favorite child (just so you know, I was my parent’s favorite!), so I decided to go from cheap to expensive and to share recent purchases made for I Live with My Mom.

What: Headboard
Price: FREE!
Location of score: Found on the corner of Irving Place x 15th Street NYC
Use: Headboard in Tristan Sierra’s room on I Live with My Mom
Upcycle: Spray paint
Total cost: $4.55

What: Luggage
Price: $2.50
Location of score: Goodwill Upper Eastside NYC
Use: End table in Vincenzo Argento’s room on I Live with My Mom
Upcycle: Added legs to create proper height
Total cost: $12.50

What: 3 record players
Price: $50 total
Location of score: Salvation Army 23rd street x 2nd Ave NYC
Use: Wall décor in Ryan Nach’s Hip Hop music production company office on I Live with My Mom
Upcycle: Added bolts and wire to properly hang
Total Cost: $52.50

What: 1960s cocktail ring
Price: $550
Location of score: Matisse Trading on 47th Street x 5th Ave, Diamond District NYC
Use: To make me happy and remember my time on the show!
Upcycle: None, just cherished by someone new now!
Total Cost: $550

What: 1975 Harbormaster houseboat
Price: $7,000
Location of score: Marina in Sacramento Delta via Craigslist
Use: Complete and utter recreation for my husband and myself! We call her the Retro Metro (Click Here to Check out the AWESOME Video!
Upcycle: A complete renovation from soup to nuts
Total Cost: Too much to share!

Tracy Metro is the host of I Live with My Mom on SPACEStv, YouTube’s newest home & design channel. Developed, produced and edited entirely by Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG), SPACEStv is a new YouTube channel that provides a unique, fresh angle on home and design for urbanites and cool hunters within the art, fashion, architecture, and design world. Its lean-forward programming slate totally clashes with your old Lazy-Boy, serving up the inspiration and innovation of top designers and hands-on professionals with an advice-driven spirit.

If you’d like to read more about what she has to say about design you can follow her @TracyMetro and DomesticCircus.com.

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Decorating on a Dime with Flea Market Finds

Today’s “Decorating on a Dime” series continues with some pretty awesome Flea Market finds, yard sale finds and side of the road deals from Interior Decorator, Denise Sabia. Check out these awesome finds and ideas!

1. Red Wagon Bar – found the wagon on the side of the road, purchase the Singer sewing machine base at a flea market. It is used in the warmer months on our screened in porch to hold cold drinks for entertaining.

2.Suitcase dresser – dresser found on the side of the road missing all drawers. – suitcases collected over time from various yard sales and flea markets. We use this piece in our guest room to store seasonal items and craft supplies.

3.Suitcase Bar – suitcase from flea market, white furniture it sits on was given to me. I painted it white, added molding on the door fronts, added legs and knobs and it’s a whole new look for this cast off piece. The silver tray top affixed to the side is from a thrift store and is used to hold bar towels. The bar is in a corner of the dining room, which is also made up of cast off and flea market finds.

4. Yardstick Stairs – the lot of yard sticks were purchased at a flea market and attached to the stair risers with construction adhesive. The stairs lead from the man cave to the main part of the house.

5. Bike wheel photo holder – bike wheels were purchased at a yard sale, bead board was given to me (porch flooring from a old home). The photos are attached with cloths pins. The piece hangs in a guest room with travel photos on it, but can be easily changed out.

Denise Sabia is an Interior Designer extraordinaire and author of “The Painted Home” blog, has an exceptional eye that takes everyday items found in flea markets, thrift shops or simply along the roadside and turns them into unique pieces that freshen and warm your home … without breaking your budget. Denise’s fun, engaging personality and savvy design style has been featured on HGTV’s Design Basics and FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia. To learn more about Denise’s work, check out her website, www.PaintedHomeDesigns.com