A Trailer Full of Junk

No photo of the loaded-to-the-max cargo trailer full of junk we brought back from Estes Park. No one would want to see the way that thing looked. It was a little scary. Imagine the Clampett's.

As soon as we arrived I bought a newspaper and started searching for garage sales, moving sales and/or estate sales. And I already knew about the three thrift stores. Some of my best junk has been found in those places.

Good news. Some people in Estes Park like to mark things FREE at their garage sales. We loaded up a bag full of knobs and pulls and hooks and such at one sale. And a coffee table at another! Then a guy threw in a free church pew-style chair at his sale because we bought another item.

We got two NEAT metal rocking chairs for $2 each. They'll get a coat of paint and some cushions and work perfectly on the patio with the existing adirondack chairs. (Note to self: watch Gabby around ANY and ALL upholstered cushions.)

Another sale had a funky chair, sort of propped up and sitting there sadly. It was obvious it had been stripped and was destined for refinishing, but had never been completed. The owner was asking $20 but we settled on $10. Then I asked him if it was a chair owned by someone in his family. He said it wasn't but that he and his wife had bought it on a trip to Ireland years ago. Score! I'll post AFTER photos one of these days (when Vaughn gets finished with it) and I bet you'll think it's pretty amazing too.

One of my favorite moving sale purchases was an old safety deposit box WITH the original key. Box #14 it is. I love it. The guy who was selling it said his grandpa owned a bank in Nebraska and when the boxes were replaced, he had kept the old ones. You know I was hooked when I heard the story. At this point there's no plan for what I'll do with it, but it's just the kind of thing that rocks my world, so it had to come home with me.

I usually have a plan for the things I buy. Sell it and make a little profit. Keep it to love forever and ever. Use it to decorate with in so-and-so room. But not the safety deposit box. I know it's going to be MINE, but no plans for what it will be used for. Not yet. It will come.

I feel a semi-humongous rearrange coming on. That's when a few things I adore that are already being used or displayed go into hiding for a bit and I put out things like a safety deposit box and a $1 beaker (like used in a lab) that I'll probably use as a vase. I also plan to do my beds over with all sorts of mismatched bedding so the $3 turquoise dust ruffle Sue and I found at the thrift store will certainly help make that happen. (I also found some neat red sheets at a super sale at Marshall's, so I'm pumped.)

The old claw foot bathtub (1920's) from Sue's cabin came home with us in the trailer too. And the wall-mount sink and medicine cabinet. We plan to hang the sink on the side of the backyard pavilion/shed and plant flowers in her bowl. And of course, the medicine cabinet will go right back where it belongs, above the sink. The tub? I fear for my life as I say this, but we have big dreams for it. Not IN the house, though. The tub will be used in the center of our back patio as a fire pit.  Sue is perfectly okay with this situation because she's going to be invited over on a regular basis to visit her tub (and roast a wiener and a marshmallow). Do not FRET though. We are true junkers, but we did NOT haul the toilet home with us. We haven't gone there yet.

Junk Heaven.