EstateSales.NET Blog

This story originally appeared on author Kimba Dalferes' website  and blog in June 2012. Permissions were granted for this reprint, but all original rights remain with her. Please visit her website for information about her book and "reflections from the middle-aged seats." “Hello, my name is Kim, and I am an Estate Sale Junkie.” “Hello Kim!” I wasn't always an ESJ. I started with what seemed to be relatively harmless excursions: thrift store perusing, perhaps the random yard or garage sale were as far as I explored. It all changed when, about a year ago, my Dad introduced me to the intriguing underworld known as the estate sale network . I’ve now come to understand that estate sales are different from the standard garage sale. A garage or yard sale is usually small in scope and tends to include items that folks are just trying to get rid of: old toys, lots of clothes, maybe the random household item. With an estate sale, the contents of the whole house are up for grabs...

​ I thought this would be a good time to show you some of my estate sale purchases that I, (we), use on a daily basis. Maybe the most used item would be our coffee table. We have a narrow family room so when I was searching for one last year, I was looking for a smaller table. I remember searching on EstateSales.NET and coming across a sale that had pictures with lots of furniture. I saw a photo of what looked like the perfect coffee table for our space. The funny thing about the table was that it was a mid-century piece. Being the eclectic gal that I am, and liking mid-century also, I decided to take a ride to see if it was still available. It was the last day of this sale and I didn't have much hope that it would still be there. My husband and I arrived, walked into the living room and yippie, it was still there! It needed refinishing but was in great shape and the size was perfect for our room. I have yet to refinish it, but it works perfectly in our family room. I surprised myself when I got 3 vintage step stools from 3 different estate sales...

Yesterday we added a feature to the site where you can “Pin” pictures from sales to your boards on Pinterest.  I wanted to put together a quick tutorial for those of you who are interested in using this new feature, so here we go! What’s Pinterest? First of all, if you’re new to Pinterest , you might be wondering “What is it?”  Great question!  Think of Pinterest as a set of cork boards.  If you see a recipe in a magazine you like, you might take it out and “Pin It” on your cork board.  That’s exactly what you do on Pinterest, but everything is online. You set up your boards based on what you like.  Start by creating boards labeled Estate Sale Finds, Recipes, and Funny Things.  When you find things online that you like that fit into these categories, you can pin them on your boards.  For more information on creating your Pinterest account, check out their help page .  After you’ve set up your account, you’ll be ready to start pinning! How to Pin: 1...

​ In last week's blog we went to several estate sales and found many items to use in Ann's bedroom makeover. We had a lot of fun and are planning to do some more together. Pictures, a table, a chair, old windows (re-purposed into a headboard), another chair, a wrought iron light (re-purposed into a necklace/bracelet holder), a piano bench (re-purposed at the base of the bed for storage), a wrought iron candelabra, doilies, a vintage hatbox (now storage for DVDs), some fun wooden shoe trees just because, a few vintage suitcases, and a hotel style luggage stand. Gotta love estate sales. All of this for under $100 – AWESOME! Now it is time to put the room together using all the estate sale finds. After gathering everything into one section of the room, we started putting things into place. Once we set Ann's room up with all of her new/old things, she absolutely loved it! At that time her husband and daughters weren't home yet. When they arrived and saw the transformation, they couldn't believe it...

So, I get a phone call from my friend Ann. She tells me that she painted her Master bedroom last weekend. Awesome! Then she went on to explain that after the painting project was done, she had to buy a new bed ensemble with comforter, sheets, pillow shams, bed skirt, etc. Okay … of course she then needed to buy new curtains to match all the bed stuff. Now Ann realized that the other side of the room also needed different curtains – OH MY (I am now seeing visions of dollars signs dancing in my/her head). At this point I am wondering why she is telling me all this. Well, how excited was I when Ann asked if I would help change her bedroom décor! Without hesitation, I said "yes". However, I did have a few conditions which I asked her to agree on. Okay, so call me tough. 1st condition - Let's NOT spend much money. 2nd condition - Let's find most of the items at estate sales.  3rd condition - Let's have fun...

It’s New Year’s Day.  I'm visiting my best friend Ann and there is a house full of teenage girls.  Oh my, what to do?  EstateSales.NET to the rescue!  What luck to find a sale on New Year's Day – Yippie!  You may not think of estate sales as teen friendly, but as it turns out, estate sales are an excellent source for teenager and college student essentials.  So, I brought Ann, along with her two daughters and nieces, to the sale. As with many sales, there was a large jewelry case set up at the front door.  Most people who go to estate sales expect to find jewelry, but we were all surprised by the selection and great prices.  The girls enjoyed looking at the different things behind the case and trying on some rings, bracelets and necklaces.  Next we made our way to the garage.  Lots of books were set up on shelves and this kept the girls’ interest as well.  So far, two for two with the girls - jewelry and books!  I used this as an opportunity to give the girls a few tips...

  READY, SET, LET'S GO … READY to go to some estate sales. SET with my directions, cell phone, water, snacks, cash, and ESS kit . All right already, so lets GO ! Turning on the navigation APP on my cell. One last check to make sure I have room in my car for possible purchases and plenty of gas in the tank. Today I picked 3 sales to go to. Our area had some bad weather these past few days, so some sales have been postponed or times have changed. Luckily, these 3 companies were really good about posting their new days and times right on EstateSales.NET. SALE 1 – The gals conducting this sale were fun, pleasant, and willing to work with me on prices. It was the last day of the sale and also the last few hours which meant great prices – like 50% to 70% off. I wound up buying a frame to a vintage baby carriage and also a little crank vintage ice cube crusher. There were some other interesting things I wanted in the basement but I was good and contained myself...

For those of you who are new to estate sale-ing, let's talk about why people have estate sales and the many advantages to shopping at them. WHY HAVE AN ESTATE SALE? - Estate sales can occur for many different reasons. A sale might take place because the homeowner has moved into a nursing facility or has passed away. Often relatives of the homeowner will hire a professional to conduct the sale. After seeing many sales myself, I can honestly say that it would NOT be a good idea to have an estate sale on your own. The professional estate sale companies know what they are doing and have it down to a science. Other reasons for having a sale may also include downsizing, moving, divorce, or even foreclosure.  I admit, when I first heard those words, Estate Sale, it kind of scared me. I thought I could never afford to buy anything from someone's estate. Well, that was about 5 years ago and boy, was I wrong! Over these past few years, I've saved hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars by shopping at estate sales.  ESTATE SALE vs...

  Now that you know a bit about estate sales from my previous blogs, let's get ready to go to one … or two … or three! If you're anything like me, you can never go to just one :) EASY SIGN UP ON ESTATESALES.NET – One of the best sites I have ever found has been this one . They have made it so easy for me to locate estate sales, which I will admit, I am hooked on! I get weekly emails from them showing me the sales in my area which start the following day.  I can honestly say it's the best email subscription I have ever signed up for. Look for the signup box in the upper right corner on the home page. FINDING ESTATE SALES NEAR YOU – On the home page, click on the state you are interested in.  You should now see a “Search for Your City” box. Here you can type in your zip code or city. This will bring you to a more detailed area map and a listing of sales nearby. Choose some to look at. Hopefully by the descriptions and pictures, which most sites have, you'll be able to choose some to visit...

Hello, my name is Lela and I'm from eastern Pennsylvania. I have 1 husband, 3 kids, 1 almost daughter-in-law, and a part-time adorable dog. The icing on the cake is: I am an estate-saler! Yep, that's my un-official title! I have a YouTube channel, a Facebook page, and a Pinterest page called TrashFindRedesigned. I really love finding items with potential and creating something special with them. I don't do this for profit; I really do it in hopes that my family, friends, and others will enjoy! This past summer, two of my bigger finds were featured on ABC’s Good Afternoon America! How exciting was that? Lara Spencer transformed my vanity into a treasure along with a vintage bench that I also found. That's me on the bench chillin' with Josh and Lara. Yep, I got my 2 minutes of fame. Does this mean I have 13 minutes remaining? By the way, I hear Lara uses the EstateSales.NET site. Do you think this was her way of bringing us together with this blog?  Anyway, it certainly was a busy summer around here...