I have never been a fan of yard sales. I always found them to be annoying to go to. After all, there are a bunch of people looking for specific things... or not... walking around bargaining and, in my opinion, just wasting time and money. Who wants to walk around and look at used stuff that you could easily buy when there was a sale?

My mind has been altered.

After feeling rather down about a few things, my husband decided that we were going to go yard-sale-hopping yesterday morning. I wasn't very excited, assuming that we wouldn't find anything worth our while, but I decided to go along because I knew it was important to him.

I definitely deserved a big, "I TOLD YOU SO," after our day.

After a couple of no-success yard sales, we came upon one that had something we desperately need: a crib. Now, it wasn't in the best of shape. It's got scratches from the way it was stored or carried around or whatever, but when it was put together we found that it was completely sturdy, no parts were missing, and the only work it needed was to be refinished or spruced up. Did I mention this was a Graco sleigh crib and they were selling it for $20?! It was probably sold originally around $200, and was probably still worth at least $100 or so considering it really just needed some TLC.

I tried to keep my jaw from dropping.

We walked away with a crib that we knew we could easily work on. It's nice to have a handyman husband who does some fine wood working. Have I mentioned he's building the dresser for the baby's nursery? Here's a sneak peak at that!


And here's some work we did on the crib today. We have to sand it down before we can refinish it. I decided I didn't want it the darker color, which is rather unfortunate because if I did all we'd have to do was fix the specific spots that were a little dinged up. Now we have to sand the whole thing down before we can paint it. Yes, I said paint. I'm somewhat of a traditionalist, I guess, and I want white baby furniture. Call me old fashioned if you like!


(Clark got the easy way out because he got to use the orbital sander...)

(Whereas I did everything by hand. Don't I look lovely?! ;) )

(This is what I accomplished in an hour)

So, I've learned my lesson on yard sales. Another lesson I learned is don't say you'll go back to a yard sale you pass once. The first one we passed there weren't any signs or anything so we weren't sure, but there were three couches amongst other things sitting in someones driveway. At the end of our escapade (around 12:30pm) we drove back and they were still there. We got out. It was a couch/love seat set in good condition (not perfect, but could have easily been fixed up a bit just to get us through a little longer without nice furniture) for $40! However, we missed out. Someone who had already seen the set had left to get money and pulled up right as we were inquiring. So, the lesson? Don't wait. If you see something you may be interested in, stop immediately. Otherwise, chances are, you'll miss the opportunity.

Maybe we should have known that lesson ANYWAY, as it tends to apply to life most of the time...

So, now I'm all about yard sales.

We have a wedding this coming Saturday, but chances are the next one I'll be up and ready to go (day/weather permitting, of course) to set out to find some more things we need!