I Went To My Own Estate Sale...

Ever been to an Estate sale and as you walk around you think "Oh my God, this person was me?!" dear Readers?
Bright and early Saturday morning Patricia, Jennifer and myself set out in search of some treasures. The first house we went to was very Mod but it was run down, and there wasn't much to be had.  It was the second house we went to that is the subject of interest dear readers, a sale that I nearly wrote off and said "The add says vintage furniture, but I know that estate sale company and that means its all just junk." 

(This was the wall paper in the dining room!)

 The house was in an older part of Wichita Falls,  and had been built in 1925. As we went in and started walking around, Patricia commented that she felt like shed been here before, or it at leas seemed familiar.  Thinking nothing of it we head through the kitchen to the back yard, and that's where things started to get eerie...

(That's MY  stove Readers!)

My 1954 Frigidaire stove was in the kitchen of this house! We laughed about it and made our way to the garage apartment where they were selling literally THOUSANDS of records, the guy keeping watch said "its mostly opera and theatre stuff" and we started to dig, EVERY Musical sound track you could possibly imagine was in this archive, There had to be nearly 2,000 albums out on the tables. We all started scrambling trying to get the best piles and selections from one another. 

I must say the girls cleaned my clock and got most of the Musical albums, But I did come away with a few treasures! 1948 Cast album of Kiss Me Kate (thank you Patricia!) and More of Tom Leher- it has "The Element Song " on it (Thank You Jenn!)

We discovered as we rummaged through records, that the man who owned them if there was a musical he went and saw he would put the the show program in the album cover. There were so many paper clippings and programs from the 1950's! Jennifer and Patricia noted that it was a neat coincidence that I do the same thing with my programs too.

(A bunch of Doris Day 78's)

As we walked around the house I couldn't help but notice that the former owner and I shared like tastes... furniture, wall paper, music and theatre.

 Here are a few other treasures I picked up, $2.00 for a 1950's TV antenna that I had to unscrew from the right from the 1950's cabinet television set. The TV set had wooden doors just the same as the one I refinished for my room! A holiday promotional ruler and the mail box.

The Mail box was an interesting surprise, when we entered the sale it caught my eye,

Like I said, the house was built in 1925 and I can only assume that's when this letter box was fixed to the front porch.  When we were checking out I asked about it and the man running the sale said "If you can get it off the wall, you can have it." a quick trip to Jennifer's car yielded me a screw driver and a vintage mail box!

Sunday morning while trying to clean the mail box up, I discovered that it was SOLID BRASS! Which doesn't surprise me for 1925, so Dad and I gave the mail box an acid scrub, patina lovers cover your ears.

Here is the after scrubbed letter box. Shiny and new just the way it would have been in 1925. Even though I don't receive mail at the lake, this will be headed for the Casablanca!

(Fantastic wallpaper in the bedroom!)

 The last bit of info that sealed the deal on my "past life" being sold at this estate sale? The man who owned the house was named Thomas Calkins, an actor that moved from Riverside California to Wichita Falls. With him he brought culture and fabulous parties, HOW TWILIGHT ZONE! Not only  could I easily picture myself living in this house, collecting these things along with having the same passion for theatre!

(Here is a picture of Thomas Calkins in an early 1950's production of "Blithe Spirit")

Just before We checked out of the sale I noticed a stack of black and white pictures that looked like they were from a play. As I flipped through them I realized almost instantly that they were still shots from a production of Noel Cowards Blithe Spirit (one of my all time favorite comedies!) so the pictures had to come home with me!This sale left us with so many after thoughts that we had to go back on Sunday! But you will have to tune in Wednesday to see those finds, they were ASTOUNDING!

-Mick-

We went to one other sale, and I came home with this-

A felt, sequined, embroidered, bedazzled Seasons Greetings banner that I picked up for $1.00 I think I'll have "The Casablanca" embroidered under "Seasons Greetings from the".

Check back Wednesday, you wont want to miss it!