Seriously, if you have never been to an estate or yard sale, you must go. For starters, find a crazy house or yard in a neighborhood foreign to yours. Then, decide who you are when you enter. You can be one of two types of salers: (1) the guy that buys to resell on eBay, who hates your stuff more than you, will be rude, wear high-waisted Lee jeans and plays Farmville for kicks, or (2) the true lover of his finds, who geeks out, takes pictures and checks in to “Heaven” on Facebook. He is silently shedding tears over what he clutching to his chest while he trips over boxes looking for more. And he has called his mom twice to tell her all the cool things he has found, things she once threw out on him. Be the second. Always the second. Especially at an estate sale.

For the lovers, they break it down. Some collect stuff, like cassettes, tapes and weird, leather Bonomi jackets. Touché dude. Sit in your basement and stare at your stuff all day with a smile. Or transform your stuff to enjoy. What I look for are finds that are simple to upscale – mirrors, frames, wall hangings, architectural pieces, furniture, paintings, lamps, fur coats and often strange little witchy things. I love a wow factor. I pick abnormally weird things, make them appear normal for my house, but when you look close, they are not normal at all. Recently, I went to an estate sale advertised through social media. I picked up a large faux Burwood cherub wall-hanging, circa 1970s, and a few other weird things.

I scrubbed the wall hanging with Lestoil, then primed and spray-painted. I added it to a faux-shiplap headboard. Although alone and left in the original state, it would have been gaudy, now HGTV is jealous of where I sleep. It is glorious, spectacular and heavenly. The point is: Anything can be updated and brought back to trend with a quick change of color and adding it to a trendy piece. Pick a piece that can be painted. Start there. Depending on your find, you will need time and elbow grease.

Supplies:

Lestoil (works on everything)
Sandpaper or primer or both
Paint

Steps:

The steps are easy. … Clean, prep, prime and paint. That’s it!

The best part of going to my last estate sale, incidentally, was sitting behind the guy who owned the house (which belonged to his late mom) in spin class. I told him how much I loved my finds and showed him some pictures of my finds and how I upscaled. He was ecstatic, and I told him that I would name my fur coats that I bought from the sale after his mom, Nancy. My Fancy Nancy Fur Coats. Nancy was seriously one fancy lady with a great eye for amazingness. I tell ya, one day my estate sale will be glorious. No eBayers allowed – just true genuine lovers of another’s treasured trash.

Jamie Burke