Street Sale
"It's bad luck to pass a garage sale without stopping." -- Ed Beck
Garage sale shopping with my granddad Ed when I was a little girl was fun, not only to see what treasures we could find but also to imagine what lives items had led and what new lives they could lead.
(It was also fun to see people's reactions when my granddad would announce, invariably: "We're here to buy your garage." Some people would smile in the spirit of the remark, some would smirk but not want to be rude, and a few wouldn't get it.)
The first weekend I was in the Summer Serenity Cottage was also the weekend of the local street sale, which was basically a giant neighborhood garage sale. This was perfect timing, because my main strategy for furnishing this summer house isn't moving everything from my regular place -- to which I plan to return in the fall after the intolerable roof noise and vibration has ended (though we still have no timeline, which is concerning; I might need a new third spot, an Autumn Serenity Condo?) -- rather, I've been furnishing the cottage with a combination of new and vintage items from other sources, plus just a few items from my regular place.
I didn't tell anyone at the street sale I was "here to buy their street" as Ed might have done, but I met some delightful people and found some delightful items. In fact, in true serendipitous style, I didn't find the drinking glasses I was looking for, but I found so much else:
- Soft comfy sofa, which a dear friend and the owner of the house kindly moved for me: $65
- Wooden dining table, which the seller and his family kindly delivered to me, and which you can see Jorji sitting on in the first picture in this post: $15
- Four wooden chairs, which the seller kindly had her father-in-law deliver for me: $25
- Water-themed art, which I hung in the guest bedroom: $3
- Blue-and-white-and-aqua vase, which I've placed in the guest bedroom: $1
- Four pair cotton work gloves, handy for hauling trash out: $1
- Framed dock picture, for the guest bathroom: $1
- Book: $1
- Lemonade from a kids' lemonade stand: $1
- Small basket, for my bedroom (bedroom before & after post here): $0 because it was the end of the day
- Total: $113
My beachy summer theme continued to come together, with quality finds! And Jorji was glad to have new surfaces and possessions in her domain! : )
I'll add that the hydration from the lemonade -- just water, lemon, sugar; real lemonade! -- was most welcome, as it was unusually hot that day for early June, at 90F / 32C.
At the risk of ranting: it was even hotter inside the house! The cottage was missing the window air conditioning unit that I had expected, and it was so hot indoors that I couldn't bear to sleep upstairs, since heat rises, so I slept in the living room on my new/used sofa, which I made up with cool cotton sheets as I did my best to think cool Lake Michigan thoughts under photos I had taken, and had framed for the cottage, of this beloved inland glacial sea.
In truth, however, I was miserable in the high heat and humidity! The living room windows wouldn't open, and the owner of the house, usually such a cheerful fellow, got angry and called me "demanding" when I asked him if he knew the trick to opening the windows as I'd seen him open them before! I remained calm and explained why his response was not acceptable and that we needed to maintain a cordial or professional relationship; he agreed.
Still, the living room windows remained closed (window update -- though not upgrade -- coming in a future post!), and the living room ceiling fan wouldn't work: it has no wall switch, no unit switch, and no remote!
I managed to open one window in the dining room along with the windows in the side rooms (guest bedroom and cat room), which generated a surprisingly minuscule and frankly imperceptible bit of airflow, and I turned on the ceiling fan in the kitchen, which I could feel only in the kitchen.
Sigh.
I thought about returning to the air-conditioned condo for another night, but if I'd been able to sleep there with the 24/7 noise and vibration, I wouldn't have needed a quiet summer house in the first place!
Soon, I acquired electric fans, my mother sent an absolutely ingenious portable ac unit, and a friend lent me a window ac unit for upstairs -- I am still searching for someone to install the window unit.
OK: rant over.
Today, happily, as I write this it is a very lovely 74F / 23C, and I am sitting perfectly comfortably in the upstairs home office at the cottage, with windows open and the ceiling fan turning as birdsong floods in and as Jorji the cat enjoys birdwatching and napping.
Chicago and the Great Lakes are areas of weather extremes, and this house can get extremely hot in the summer (and undoubtedly extremely cold in the winter with the thin antique windows upstairs, though I won't be onsite after August).
This house is also charming and adorable, thoroughly pleasant and relaxing when the weather is in the 70s, surrounded by birds and greenery, and beautifully quiet -- which was the main attribute I sought! The positives outweigh the negatives, for purposes of my summer getaway.
Moreover, it is a fun house to decorate -- more before & after posts coming soon! -- and now it is a refreshed part of the history of garage sale / street sale adventures!
(Yes: I drink hot chocolate on hot days or cold; don't you? : )
Onward and upward!
Your friend in decorating,
Valerie
Feel free to say hi via email as well: valerie.beck@post.harvard.edu.
Thank you!
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