Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Late entry, but I am in Arvada. Like ChikenPatti, I work 40 hours/week and have a family and home to care for, so I make it to estate sales usually only on Saturday mornings. My eBay store is miniscule, (and I think I like it that way). I am happy if I move a few items a week and occasionally score a whale.
I am retiring from the regular job this summer and taking a huge rode trip with my daughter. When I get back this fall, I may ramp up the scavenging/reselling (archeology for profit lol). Would be glad to meet up with other trash elves in Denver Metro – at an Estate Sale of course! Best wishes to everyone.
Thanks for all the tips. I am going to try washing the rug outside on the lawn with a rubber mat under it using a hose to soak it and woolite for soap (after testing a corner to make sure the dyes don’t run). I plan to use a new broom as an agitator and will squeegee and wet-vac as much water away as possible, then let it dry in the sun. I don’t think one day of sunlight will damage it much. I will update here with the results.
Also planning to get some Folex. I have kid’s yogurt hand print on the back of my couch I have been unable to completely get out… Thanks again to all. Love this friendly community.
Has anyone ever tried cleaning a wool carpet – like a hand knotted wool carpet? I have an 8′ x 10′ Aubusson carpet that is in great condition but it is dirty from foot traffic. It looks like it might clean up into something amazing. I am hesitant to get it professionally cleaned and I have never tried this myself, nor can I find any reliable info in the internet. My sister indicates that I could probably clean it in a bathtub, but might have a hard time drying it and keeping in a square shape. I am thinking I will spread it out on a rubber mat after cleaning and point fans at it and let Colorado low humidity do the work. Would love input.
Wow – amazing piece! What a fantastic find. If you are near a foundry, you might take it to them to confirm that it is bronze (if you are in doubt). It may have no patina because it was made as a model from which a foundry or mint subsequently miniaturized the production molds. I am sure it is valuable to someone. Best wishes.
Lightroom from Adobe is the bomb. It will do everything through a fairly intuitive interface. BOLO for an older version – sold on disc through at least version 4. Otherwise you can rent from Adobe for $10/month. I am an enthusiast and use Lightroom for all my photography. For any photographer, it is probably the single best piece of equipment you can purchase.
Sorry about the sick kids Habnab. Hope all have recovered. I guess I don’t see it the same way as you. My store is pretty small with only ~85 items and I spend a lot of my time and energy in an 8 – 5ish job. When I buy something I know will sell (example: Santa 4 weeks before Black Friday), I am going to do a happy dance. In fact, I celebrate when I find an item, when I get it listed, and when it gets sold. Every step is part of the sweet process that fattens my wallet. Best wishes, aperture.
I go to estate sales and garage sales on weekends. I have found it valuable to go to estate sales on the last day where everything is 50% off. The prices are always too high before that. Sometimes when I am late in the day, I can pick up almost anything for $1 to $5 if the seller is just trying to empty the house.
Still I am more like Tina F. above who looks for a ratio of cost to selling price and ease of shipping. It is too easy to pass on good opportunities if I walk into a place with a model of what the next item should be. In the last two weeks I paid $10 for some neoprene waders, and $25 for a Karastan carpet. If I was looking for the familiar or the cheap (or exclusively easy to ship), I may have passed on these, but past sales on eBay show these at ~$50 for the waders and $450 for the carpet. I try to stay in ‘beginner mind’ and try to look at everything without yet knowing if it has value or not, then go through a brief process of investigation if I do not know. The danger is in getting bogged down looking at a bunch of useless crap in a house that has the equivalent of a hoard of used tupperware with mismatched lids. At some point summary judgement also has to win.
