EstateSales.NET Blog

Think of well-dressed men throughout history. What’s one thing they all have in common? That’s right. Hats . And if you’re a contrarian and are now busy coming up with a list of well-dressed men who never wear hats, consider this: what if they did wear hats? Think about it. Admit it, hats look good. The fedora might fall into some bad press now and again, but it’s hard to deny that, worn on the right head, it’s just the right thing. (If you don’t believe me, go re-watch the first few seasons of Mad Men . I’ll wait. Heck, maybe I’ll join you. Popcorn?) And that’s not to say all those hat-wearing heads have to belong to someone famously good-looking with the last name of Gosling or Hemsworth, or whomever the kids are into these days. Any head, with any face on it, can rock a hat. It just has to be the right one. And while there are many modern haberdashers (a word I NEVER get to use, so I am so excited right now) making fine hats, there’s no denying the quality and style of a vintage hat...

There was a time when local fairs and traveling carnivals weren’t filled to the gills with stuffed animals made to look like your favorite cartoon characters. A time when you wouldn’t have to walk around with a giant teddy bear, wondering where to put it when it was time to ride The Avalanche, or how to eat a giant mustard-covered corn dog without getting it all over your new buddy. Instead, there was chalkware . What’s chalkware? you might ask. Is it like silverware? Is it forks and knives that look like they’ll break if I bite too hard, and will, with 100% certainty, leave behind a weird, dusty residue in my mouth? What a silly question that is, and definitely not at all what I originally thought chalkware was myself, I assure you. The chalkware craze began in Staffordshire, England in the late 1800s as an inexpensive alternative to the region’s popular porcelain figurines. The chalkware one might win at an early-20th century carnival frequently came in the form of hand-painted figurines like kewpie dolls , or pieces based on TV and film characters...

It’s here! The EstateSales.NET Marketplace is open for business. Now you can find and browse your local estate sales—just like always—but you can also shop, browse, and buy items from estate sale companies across the country, and have them shipped right to your door. So you’ll notice a few changes on our website. And you can expect more in the coming days, weeks, and months. But change is a good thing. It means we’re growing and improving. So here’s what you can expect. What’s new now Shop for Items. You may have noticed the “Shop for Items” tab that appeared at the top of the EstateSales.NET homepage. That link sends you directly to our Marketplace page, where you can browse all the items currently available to buy or bid on the EstateSales.NET Marketplace. If you don’t feel like going out, or if you’ve exhausted all your local options when hunting for that missing fridgie to complete your Pyrex set, or that discontinued game you loved as a kid, you can access estate sales nationwide with the Marketplace. Categories...

It’s almost Easter, which means it’s about time to bust out the vinegar and egg dying kit and get to work. “The thing about dying Easter eggs,” my daughter said over a fresh carton of white eggs, a rare sight in my brown-egg home, “is when you buy a kit, everything is basically already done for you.” Well, my child, you have been blessed with a mother who desperately wants to be Pinteresting, so we shall eschew the traditional fizzy color tabs for our egg-dying needs and instead harness the power of estate sales to reach our goal! Buckle up, buttercup. Did you know you can use old silk ties (or scarves, or shirts, or skirts, or...you get the point) to dye your eggs? The patterns transfer imperfectly but beautifully onto to the eggs. Sure, they’re rendered inedible, but does anyone really ever eat all those eggs after the holiday is over? Be honest. The process is a bit more time consuming than dropping a fizzy pill into a glass of vinegar water, but the results are more unpredictable, and therefore more exciting...

After the family’s Atari 2600, my favorite childhood game was my father’s pachinko machine . I don’t know how he came by it. I suspect he brought it home when his time in the service ended. Regardless, it joined the family before I did, and the sound of hundreds of little metal balls rolling into the reservoir and pinging around the board is on the soundtrack of my childhood. (A mixtape that also includes 8-bit Frogger sound effects and New Kids on the Block’s first three albums.) A post shared by Danny likes 💻🔌⚡🔧🎼🎹 (@dannyisdandy) on Feb 24, 2018 at 2:48pm PST There are machines available for under $100, but before you take the plunge, consider what level of effort you are willing to put forward to have a functioning machine. Are you prepared to refurbish the machine yourself (which can require considerable time and hundreds of dollars, depending on the machine), or have someone do it for you...

Lamb cake. It’s more than just another term of endearment for your sweetie-pie. It’s an Easter tradition from the old country. A custom that compels people to bake delicious cakes in the shape of a lamb, decorate it elaborately, and serve it at the family Easter celebration. And I was not informed. Despite growing up in a solidly Easter-celebrating family, I was never given the chance to partake in such confectionery delicacies. And now here I am, raising my daughter in a household without lamb cakes like a sucker. Well, I say that’s a travesty, and I say no more! Though it’s only just getting started in our own household, the lamb cake tradition is at least a century old. It’s origins aren’t exactly clear, but it certainly has European roots—German, Polish, and Italian, to be specific. But ask around, and you’re sure to find people the world over willing to wax nostalgic about their mother’s/grandmother’s/aunt’s annual lamb cake, and the particular way they decorated it...

Among the many features we rolled out on our recently-revamped search page is a new, customizable map. With a flick of your wrist, you can easily tailor your map view to suit your needs, showing sales as close as 5 miles from your location, or as far as 100 miles, using a simple slider bar. Check it out. When you search EstateSales.NET by zip code or by city, you’ll see a map of the area, with a “distance circle” surrounding it. Within that circle, you’ll see markers for every estate sale and auction listed on our site, within a certain distance. Beneath the map, you’ll find several toggle buttons that can limit the type of sales you see, and a slider bar that will home in on a specific location or expand your search area. Move the slider bar to the right, and the circle will grow, and we'll show you—both on the map and in the sale listings—estate sales within a greater distance from where you are, up to 100 miles. Feel like keeping your search closer to home? Move the bar to the left...

You may have noticed a few changes over on the EstateSales.NET city pages. We’ve been working hard to improve the overall experience and make it easier than ever to shop estate sales near you. So now, when you search EstateSales.NET for sales in a specific area, things might seem a bit different. So, what’s new? It’s bigger. I think we can all agree that one of the best things about checking out estate sales online ahead of time is flipping through photos of all the great items that will be available when the sale begins. Shopping trips are planned based on those photos. In a picture of assorted kitchenware, you can see the Pyrex 444 Friendship bowl—the one you need to complete your set. When the doors open, you know to make a beeline to the kitchen, to the counter to the left of the sink, next to a stack of Corelle plates like your grandmother had. It’s clearly waiting just for you. Maybe those plates are, too. But you can decide that later. Bigger pictures mean more dreaming, less squinting, and better overall planning...

It’s easy to become enamored with the items you find at estate sales. It’s also easy to find yourself ready to spend far more than you were planning. Buyer's remorse? Never. But it is a little disappointing to open your wallet and see tiny moths flutter out of it like in the cartoons because you just bought a carload of fantastic stuff. It’s hard. We understand. But for those looking to liven up your life and shelfspace with some new collectibles, there are plenty of doodads for shoppers on a budget, with a variety to enjoy and a history to dive into. I’ve started many of my own budding collections based on the affordability of these and other irresistible estate sale items. Salt & Pepper Shakers A post shared by Robin's_Lane (@robinslane) on Jan 17, 2018 at 2:05pm PST Not only cookie cutters , but many vintage kitchen utensils can be found at an estate sales for just a few dollars...

We are fortunate to live in a time of perennially wrinkle-free clothing. When I was a child, my mother used to drag her iron and ironing board into the living room to iron my father’s dress shirts and pants every week. I assumed that I, too, would need to learn this skill, because as a dutiful wife, I would need to iron my husband’s suits each week. But that didn’t end up being the case. Thanks, permanent-press clothing, feminism, and the business-casual workplace! But while my mother’s ironing chores seemed arduous and I’m glad I managed to avoid them, they were far less difficult than the work of the mothers that came before either of us, in the long, long ago. Before the electric iron, the pressing process was much more difficult, and much...warmer. A post shared by Everything Old Canada (@everythingoldcanada) on Feb 22, 2017 at 7:02pm PST A technological improvement over charcoal, irons heated by liquid fuel—kerosene, denatured alcohol, and gasoline—produced less smoke, and could be temperature regulated...