Saturday, March 31, 2007

West Plano yard sale report: the neighborhood sale

By Claire Hoffman

Neither obtrusive nor obnoxious.

PLANO — The mission: Lamps.

This week was a continuation of my search for end tables. But I also decided to try and find lamps for the living room. I have a pair of nice little lamps but, when I turn them on, the shade gets really hot. It looks like it's made of copper but it’s really made of shell; I got them at a yard sale.

Rather than look online, I decided this week to just start driving. If you drive along Spring Creek or Park or Legacy, you’ll eventually see signs. The first sign I saw went into Mission Ridge Road, where I saw two or three right near each other. I said, "Oh, is this a neighborhood thing?" It turned out to be a sale with 26 houses spread out over 15 roads in this one neighborhood. They were giving out a map, with each participating house outlined, and below each house, a list of what they were selling. I found a central place to park, and attacked each cluster. So it was a lot of walking.

I came upon this one house right as they were opening the garage door. I could hear them inside, a mother and daughter, and the husband. He was saying, "What do you want me to do? Give me something to do." But then when she'd tell him, "Take this piece of furniture out," he'd say, "I can’t do that, it’s going to get wet." He was being a real ass.

The neighborhood is Carriage Hills. It's the big-big brick 5-bedroom West Plano houses. Some of the people were overpriced. This one woman had these two end tables, they were too big for me anyway, but they were scratched on top, and the finish had worn off, and she was asking $50 for the two. To me, those were worth $15 at the most.

One of the women was real impressed with her Abercrombie & Fitch clothes. She put it on her list on the map, and she also put a sign out, "Abercrombie & Fitch clothes".

A couple of people had lamps. One place had ones I kindof liked, they were cream colored, but they were $5 apiece. I thought, I’ll go back if I don’t see anything else. But then I found the ones I got. They didn't have lampshades -- but they were 50 cents a piece. And I like them better because they’re smaller.

It leans forward a little but still a great deal for $10.

They have the weirdest screw on top that holds the shade, it’s called a finial, it looks like a green Christmas bulb. The base itself is cream-colored. It’s not obtrusive or obnoxious. It’s plain and simple, and it was 50 cents.

Today's take: The biggest find was a wicker rocking chair for the patio. I wasn’t looking for that. But I like wicker furniture, and I had been thinking about what I could put on the patio because it’s so empty. In the back of my mind, I had thought, Well, if I find something. The chair was at one of the last places I went to. It only has one little spot where the wicker is kindof worn. The rest is perfect. It leans forward a little when you sit in it -- I think that's probably the reason they were selling it, is that it forces you to sit upright. But it was $10.

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

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• Antiques and Collectibles

Comments

kirk Anonymous

Just think how much easier it will be to get OUT of that wicker chair when you are ready! Another nice report. I hope this becomes a regular weekend feature. The dramatic tension of the end table search is beginning to build.

2 years, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Teresa Gubbins Staff

i was surprised by the whimsical shift towards lamps and wicker chairs, without the original mission of "finding an end table" having been fulfilled first. i hope this end table thing isn't going to stretch out indefinitely

2 years, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Chad Jones Verified

Verily I say, aren't we all searching for an intangible end (table)?

2 years, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )