The Big Day

 We have all been working so hard this summer with our flea market flips and it finally paid off!  Saturday was a very successful yard sale day.  Team New York had dropped off three FULL carloads down in NJ the week prior to the sale.  Aunt Linda and Uncle John were super helpful and generous in donating boxes and boxes of stuff we can sell at the sale.  Aunt Linda spend days cleaning out the house and basement and Uncle John helped take a load down to NJ.  Thank you so much Aunt Linda and Uncle John!!!

The day started extremely early for team NY.  Waking up at or before 4am, we were on the road (with another half full carload) by 4:45.  We arrived in NJ close to 6am to begin setup.  The men carried everything from the garage to the front yard, Chrissy priced and tagged items and then drove around to hang more signs, Mom started unpacking boxes and laying everything out and I was tagging items and attempting to arrange the furniture and items in a somewhat strategic way.  

We had a few early birds while we were still straightening up and tagging items, but not too many.  We were actually a little nervous for the first hour or so because there weren't many customers at all.  What would we have done with all of that furniture if most of it didn't sell??  But by 9:30ish we started getting customers and they were coming in herds.  I guess people in New Jersey like to sleep in on the weekends.  At all times during the day, there was either one person there or a huge wave of people, never an easy amount to deal with.  We were selling a lot of stuff!

Trevor's neighbors were more than generous.  They all stopped by at one point or another to see how it was going since they heard so much about it prior to the sale and has seen and heard Trevor and Chrissy working into the wee hours of the night on projects.  Many of his neighbors made a very generous donation without buying anything.  Others even dropped off things for us to sell.  All day we were acquiring items from so many of his neighbors, small nick knacks, furniture, toys... you name it and it appeared.  Every little bit helped.  Other neighbors helped us out by purchasing large items.  It not only helped for the fundraising but it also helped free up some space in Trevor's garage and driveway!  Thank you everyone who contributed and donated!!! We appreciate all the help and support!

 As far as our Flea Market Flip contest goes, Team NJ blew us out of the water.  They had made a huge bench out of three or four (curbside) doors.  The bench was beautiful and the seat even opened for storage.  They sold this for $140 for an entire $140 profit.  They also sold a large bench made from a headboard for $70.  Prior to the sale, they had sold a desk they found for free and painted the top black for $70.  There was one family that was at the sale and apparently really like a end table/coffee table set because they came back with some crisp 50's and bought them.  This was the glass top set that we touched up with black and silver paint.  Chrissy had it marked $120 and they offered $80. Chrissy wouldn't take anything less than $100 and they didn't argue.  This was another free street pick up they transformed into a great set.  The coffee table, however, had a large chip in the glass but Trevor had a guy he works with cut another piece.  It was conveniently dropped off less than10 minutes prior to this family purchasing it.  Good timing! 

 So far (because this will continue with another yard sale or two and still on Craigslist) the flea market flip has raised us over $1660!!  That includes the profits from our sales on Craigslist and the sales we made on Saturday.  We have surpassed our goal of $3600 but will continue to sell because we have so many good items left. 

Thank you everyone for all the help and support throughout our Flea Market Flip adventure.  We appreciate everything you have all done for us!

The Final Week Before the Sale

This past weekend was the last weekend of garage sales to shop at because next weekend we will be holding our own garage sale in Bloomfield, NJ for all our remaining flips.  Mom and Dad picked up some good finds.  They picked up a couple of good old mirrors for only a dollar or two that we can definitely resell for more than that.  From our curbside neighbor down the road they picked up an electric stove and a folding table.  They came home and plugged the stove in and it works so we can make a few bucks on that and the table we can actually use at the sale or sell it if we don't need it.  

For $3 they found a small wood cabinet that they simply put in a few shelves to make it more functional.  

 Then they picked up two nice and sturdy bookcases.  Inspired by Lara Spencer on Good morning America, Mom painted them with the teal/blue that I had used for my bookcase and desk and used white accents.  On the show, Lara Spencer painted a wall with the teal/blue color and stenciled a white tree on and it looked great.  Mom stenciled some white bamboo on the sides and top.  

This evening, the woman that came last week for the bar cart came back and she was impressed with these.  She took the one bookcase for $45 as well as many other items.  She bought:
A bench (old and falling apart from our backyard that Dad took apart, trimmed down and reassembled)
A tall white corner shelf unit
The oriental style coffee table
The wood milk crate foot stool
The rustic door cabinet
The screen door towel rack
The washboard spice rack
The red shoe shine box

She was interested in so much more.  She wanted to bargain but she said she felt bad because she knew we put a lot of work into everything so she was paying close to full price for things.  She said we were definitely priced to sell because our priced were great but that's exactly what we are doing.  We know some of our things are worth more but we don't have the time or facility to sell them like she does.  She said to contact her after the sale if things are left over and we can bargain a little more then. 




 

A Busy Couple of Days

Yesterday the phone was ringing off the hook.  First a woman was interested in the white corner shelf.  She said she was on her way to Hopewell Junction from the city and she'd call us.  It was hours later that she called so I'm not sure which city she was coming from but she came, with her two daughters and a car loaded and packed because they were moving.  She clearly did not think about the size of the white corner shelves.  I mean I listed the dimensions on Craigslist but even if she didn't read that or understand the size, she should have realized that they are made from doors!  She had originally wanted the two larger ones but there was no way both of those were going to fit.  She took one large one and one small one.  I think she had originally though that it was $25 for both large ones even though the add clearly said each so we gave her a deal and charged her $30 for both the large and small shelves. 

 





















Just before this woman had called the second time saying she was close, "grandma" called.  This is a woman that has called numerous times about a bar stool we had.  She sounded like an old lady and constantly called saying she was coming and then not coming and coming... so we have just been referring to her as grandma.  She seemed very confused because I answered the phone instead of Dad but said she was coming in a hour to an hour and a half.  Of course she comes when the other people with the corner shelves are trying to leave.  But she finally came after almost a week of saying she was coming.  She bought this bar stool that we bought at a yard sale for $2 and just put up on Craigslist as is for $10.  

 And then we had someone call Wednesday saying she was going to come Thursday for the bar cart.  This woman came at about 7:00 and was looking at all our stuff.  She owns a shop where she re-sells things.  She said a lot of our stuff she can definitely sell.  We knew that some of our things are worth a lot but don't have a shop or the time to really sell it at what it could be worth.  There are a few things she definitely wanted like the big decorative door, the distressed dresser and some others.  She was going to discuss it with her partner and then probably buy more.  She asked if we can deliver to her shop and we said we could since this would really help us out if she buys all these big items.  As of right now, she took the bar cart for $50 and she is going to call today so we'll see.  

We also got a call from someone interested in the shoe shine box.  She said she would call Friday morning and in the pouring rain, she ventured to Cornwall for her shoe shine box.  She even carried in a blanket to cover it carrying back to her car!

And then earlier this morning Dad got a call about someone interested in the Black shelf with silver knobs.  So that should be sold this evening.  

And as I was writing this post, the bar cart woman called back as she said she would.  We have a number of items on hold for her.  She is going to come Monday with her partner but the items on hold are:
the tall white corner shelf
the decorative black door with hooks and mirror
the borden's milk crate foot stool
the WWII Ammo box we didn't do anything with but put on Craigslist
Poppy's table made from a door and a utility spool we just put up on Craigslist
the small red shoe shine box
the decorative door cabinet unit

This will be a big sale!
 


 

Sold for a $31 Profit

At the Stormville Flea market, Mom picked up this small kids table that was originally marked $10, then reduced to $5 and then bargained down to $3 since it was the end of the day.  It was in great shape and needed no work.  However, it was lonely and needed some seating.  Mom found a wood toy box that she made a padded seat top for it.  It wasn't selling.  Someone was actually interested in the table only but was only going to pay a few bucks since they would have to go buy chairs for it.  We didn't sell it, and that was a good thing because at the next yard sale Mom and Dad found these great fold up kids chairs for $0.50!  With a coat of baby blue spray paint and some brighter colored seat cover, the value of this table grew significantly.  We listed the table with chairs and the storage bench all on craiglist together but with separate prices, but a deal if they bough all items.  A women emailed me and said she does therapy and the table and chairs would be great for one of her clients from a needy family in Florida, NY.  At first she said she would come over the weekend and I got an email Sunday saying something came up but she could come during the week.  I gave her our (Dad's) availability but didn't hear from her again until this morning.  I thought we had lost this sale.  She stopped by today and paid the full listed price for the table and chairs, $35.  She said she is always sitting on the floor with this client and this will be perfect.  

Now we just have to sell the kid's storage bench.  

And the Flips Continue

As we were on our weekly yard sale adventures a few Saturdays ago, we drove by a house that had some furniture in their front yard.  We couldn't tell if it was a yard sale or people just had a weird taste for front lawn furniture.  We continued on to our planned sales with no luck.  We were going to be driving by that house again so this time we went real slow to check ti out.  A couple was definitely setting up for a yard sale but were clearly not done.  There was enough for us to look at though so we pulled over and got out to take a look.  The woman apologized because they weren't quite ready and still bringing things out.  They were good though because everything was pre-priced.  We walked around and saw this great old desk marked $3.  How can you go wrong for $3? We checked the drawers and they worked, just needed some cleaning up and a new paint job.  I had just the project in mind.  

 I washed this down because it was terribly dirty and removed the hardware.  I wanted to go with a distressed look and did a little research on how to do that.  There are so many ways to accomplish this style but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible.  I got some brown paint from Dad's old paint stash and painted the entire thing brown, except for the top, which I was going to leave as is.  Mom helped me out a bit and gave the brown a second, and in some areas, a third coat.  I then used the blue color I used for my cubbies, but went out first and bought more just in case (but never needed it).  I painted everything with a thin blue coat except the trim which I was keeping brown.  With the thin coat of blue, you could see the brown through it in the brush strokes.  I had considered sanding it down to the brown lightly in spots if I needed a distressed look but this turned out great without even sanding it.  

The finishing touch to this desk was the chair.  When we went to Trevor's last week we came home with a set of three chairs.  They fit perfectly under the desk.  We decided to use one for the desk and then leave the other two as a pair. 

With one coat of brown paint, this chair matched the distressed desk perfectly.  

Our next flip came from another old wooden crate.  This one had metal lining the edges which made extra sturdy.  We decided to keep this rustic looking.  

We added very small feet to the bottom as you can see in the photo above since we forgot the before picture.  This just made if so it is not sitting completely on the floor.  The last crate we made into an ottoman and made the feet much larger and the cushion very large.  This one we decided to go a little smaller and make a foot stool, but with the same concept, storage.  We had some cushioning left over from the ottoman that we picked up curbside.  We didnt really have any great fabric for it though.  However, Mom and I were very impressed with this fabric Trevor had.  It was super thick and 3 yards long.  He said he picked it up at Michaels or AC Moore for like $3.  So yesterday when I was out in Middletown, I stopped at AC Moore and Michaels since they are right next to each other.  AC Moore had these wonderful, super thick, huge pieces of fabric piled up in a huge bin.  Unfortunately they weren't exactly $3, they were more like $6, but of course you never go to AC Moore without a coupon for I had my 40% coupon and my 15% teacher discount so I guess it was like $3 after all.  This fabric was huge though and more than worth it.  Dad said it would make a good blanket because it was so big and thick enough.  Mom upholstered the top and Dad attached the bottom piece to complete our wood crate foot stool. 

On the same yard sale trip Mom and Dad picked up another wood crate.  Like the other crate, this one is very sturdy but much shorter.  It is an old Pepsi Cola crate, very cool.  This one Mom decided to just line the bottom and keep it like a tray.  She had this craft kit thing that laminated fabric.  She laminated a piece of fabric we already had and this way the tray is easily wiped clean.  

And finally a curbside broken door thing was fixed up and re-purposed.  Mom and Dad found this at our favorite nearby neighbor where we found the seat cushion.  Dad added a little shelving unit behind the hinged door almost like a medicine cabinet.  To fill a whole in the door Mom put some burlap behind it for decoration.  I'm not quite sure what this can be used for but it makes a great little shelving unit, however, it is not so little.  It is over 2 feet wide and almost 3 feet tall but it looks awesome!

A Bedroom Makeover

Yesterday we sold two more items when I was out at soccer practice.  I had gotten an email from someone that was interested in the two tier black table and I responded that it was still available but then never heard back from them.  Apparently they called and stopped by to pick it up.  It was a father and daughter from Monroe.  The girl's older sister was going to college next year and she will get their bedroom all to her self so she gets to redecorate.  I'm very upset that I missed them because Mom said they were interested in everything!  They even wanted this decoupaged "J" that I had made for myself (with picture of me and my friends) but Mom said that wasn't for sale.  The girl really liked and wanted one of the corner shelves we had made from a bi-fold door.  Her dad agreed that he would pay for the two tier table and if she wanted the corner shelf she can pay for it herself, and she did, the full price of $15.  This family was not the type to bargain.  If they were, they probably could have gotten away with those items for much cheaper.  

 The two tier table cost us $3 at a yard sale and sold for $30!  This was actually one of the first flip items we invested in, along with the cubbie dresser I painted and sold.  The bi-fold door cost us $1 at the Habitat ReStore and that one door made two corner shelves so really the original cost of this flip was only $0.50 and we sold it for $15! 

 

DOORS Con't

In addition to the bi-fold doors we made into corner shelves, Mom and Dad found a few doors curbside.  One was a full size old door and one was a solid wood bi-fold in great condition. 

 After looking through Pinterest, we decided that for the full size door we will make it into an entryway coat hook type of thing.  Mom painted it one coat of black that made it looked distressed and old.  We bought a round table from the Habitat ReStore and cutr an edge off to make a table.  We added a single leg since the table was small and painted the leg and table surface black and then put a single thin coat of red on them so they were distressed as well.  We found an oval mirror at a yard sale for $2 and added some coat hooks to either side of the mirror.  With the leg in the front center, Dad added two small stabilizing feet in the back so it stands on its own.  

As for the bi-fold door, we were inspired by Team NJ.  They made the trunk out of an old door and with this bi-fold door it was super easy.  There was much less planning and strategizing since there were two panels, each with two equal long sections and a short section, enough for all the sides of the box. Dad did an awesome job assembling this and stained it since the cut edges were raw wood and didn't match.  Mom and Dad went to the Restore and spent less than $2 on hardware supplies to add to the trunk, a small doorknob for the front, two handles for the sides, a chain for the inside to stay open and hinges.  This final product is absolutely amazing!!!