Sunday, March 25, 2007

Yard sale report from West Plano

By Claire Hoffman

Tables? Any tables in here?

PLANO — I just moved to Texas, and still have a lot of empty spaces in my place that I'd like to fill. For example, right now, I'm using boxes as end tables, which I cover with a cloth so you can't tell.

Today’s mission: Find an end table, preferably for $10 or less.

First, I search craigslist, looking for key things in the ads. If it says "estate sale," that's a good sign. It means they’re selling furniture. And if it says "multifamily," there'll be a lot of stuff. I avoid anything that says "lots of kids clothes" -- that means the people will be young and probably won't be selling anything good.

I find two near each other in West Plano: one on Lonesome Trail and another on Knollwood Street.

1. There's a huge traffic jam at the first one. In Plano, everybody’s garage is in the alley. But there's only room in the alley for one car to drive through. They should park on the street in front of the house and walk around to the garage in back. But instead, they park in in the alleyway so you can't get through. Making it worse is that everyone drives huge pickup trucks or SUVs. And they leave their car with the kids in it.

This first one, the seller is right in the middle of the block. Coincidentally, someone next-door has moved out and thrown everything they owned into the back area for garbage pickup. There's couches, chairs, tables, a computer desk piled in huge stack -- a household full of junk. It's like a big garbage dump that's separate from the yard sale.

I do see in that pile of stuff a little cabinet which I think about taking. It's a small wooden cabinet with a door. But you can see it's a little beat up, and it'd take some work to fix it. Besides, it's pandemonium here, so I leave.

2. This one is a big estate sale, inside the house. They're in the middle of redoing the place so it's a mess. There's a lot of kitchen stuff -- glasses and Tupperware. Whoever lived here was deeply into computers. There's a room full of electronics, motherboards, those wires that connect the printer to computer, there's 40 of those all lined up. If anybody were into making their own computer, they'd go nuts here. There's also books and clothes.

There is lots of big furniture. But it's stuff I don’t want, like a big bureau and a bed and a hutch thing for a dining room.

2A. I see a small sale on Coit, so I stop real quick. But it's just a couple kids, doing it to make money. They have costume jewelry, a couple coolers, and some backpacks.

Today's take: Zero. Maybe next week.

This story was submitted by a member of the Pegasus News community.

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• Antiques and Collectibles

Comments

kirk Anonymous

You must be clairevoyant ... I was just thinking about garage sales.

Nice article! Keep it up.

1 year, 6 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Chad Jones Staff

About three months ago I bought a 10-speed bike from a garage sale for twenty bucks. Then I bought a bike lock. Then the bike was stolen. The end.

1 year, 6 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Mike Orren Staff

Don't forget that Thursday-Sunday, you can also find garage sale info on neighborhood maps:

http://www.pegasusnews.com/hood/

And here:

http://www.pegasusnews.com/shopping/g...

1 year, 6 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

twisteddog Anonymous

Who's this Claire Hoffman person? She's brilliant! I love the part about rolling little kids for jewelry. It's so easy, but I never thought of it before.

1 year, 6 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )