The best ones combine the pleasures of a (free!) museum visit, with a chance to socialize, plus a potential creative outlet. Not only can you find practical items for your home at a discount, but sometimes the most extraordinarily impractical discoveries can cleanse your visual palate of what I’ll call too much online junk food.
Instead of constantly scrolling through photos on a flat, cold screen (although I find cool things here, as I hope you do also lol, but it’s not a satisfying tactile experience), I enjoy the immersive of experience of an estate sale. Wandering in-person through part of someone’s life story, as told by their left-behind possessions.
The vibe at different sales varies. One Colorado Springs company tends to represent wealthy clients and prices items on the high side. But one sale I went to of theirs was in an interesting high-rent neighborhood that I didn’t know existed, and where the views were magnificent. And items included some jaw-dropping handmade antiques (a pair of inlaid and exquisitely carved wooden beds). Another tends to have shortened open hours and I’ve found the overall feeling at (two of) those sales to be somewhat rushed, crowded and stressful. But have found some interesting items there.
If possible though, I like more time to slowly mosey through and maybe chat with like-minded pickers that seem open to it, about what strange or interesting thing we might both be looking at, sitting there on the table or in the closet.
sewing patterns
Have you enjoyed (window) shopping or browsing estate sales? What’s been your experience? What’s the strangest thing you’ve come across? Any recommendations in regards to estate sale shopping?
If you want to find sales near you, I’ve searched estatesales.net and, “estate sales near me” on Facebook Marketplace.
So another thing I like to keep my eye out for personally, are items for use in the interactive found object sculptures I call mini museums. Occasionally I come across fascinating tiny items which spark the imagination.
