Etsy Treasury Fan? ME TOO!

There's nothing like a great collection right? Now, I don't brag on myself much, but I DO pride myself on being a fabulous curator, call me a nerd if you must, but it's a complete blast putting together unique collections of goods or art from my point of view.  Along these same lines...putting together an awesome Etsy Treasury allows Etsy buyers and sellers with an opportunity to create their own little showcase for the world to see.  From my Put Me In Coach showcase to the 1970's Time Capsule to the strange Creepy Easter Bunny set (for all the goth kids), I love love and love putting together a good treasury.

If you're as BIG a fan of Etsy Treasuries as I am ... you know ... the GOOD ones ... give The Etsy Treasury Hunter a visit ... there's a daily theme running with the best treasuries out there. Be sure to visit my latest creation Vintage Game Night....because it's always entertaining to watch Aunt Martha come UNGLUED if she thinks someone is cheating at gin.

Doris Envy! L.A. Frockstars Thoughts on the Chicago Trip

After watching last night's episode of L.A. Frock Stars on Smithsonian ....!!! oh my !!!... I had complete and total Doris envy! On this episode, her team had been personally invited to a Chicago estate to explore the closets of an estate liquidator's client.  The deceased in this case had been a social butterfly ... a Chicago socialite ...and an in demand Dior high fashion model from back in the oh SO fashionably glamorous days of the 1970's and 1980's... and speaking of back in the day ... the home was a kitsch-ville dream too!  There were wild cat rugs, pink, black, and purple walls.... I think the staircase was spiral, but don't quote me on that.... lots of amazing trinkets and art... lots and lots of stuff! The niece of the deceased was present to help show them around, as well as the estate liquidator (wearing the Chanel shoes out in the driveway no less! smh)... I can only imagine what it must have been like to have had such a marvelous and fashionable aunt as a kid! Like a disco era Auntie Mame perhaps? Believe me... these were the closets ANY little girl would want to play in for hours on end.  Ah digress... so then they got to the closets... oh oh and OH! There was an accessory room for alllllllll the gorgeous jewelry ...there were amazing hats.... LOTS and LOTS of hats... from beaded to disco to feathered to plastics! ... and then .... the closets! If I were Doris...after 5 minutes... I would have been making arrangements to rent the largest u-haul truck I could legally drive .... backed it up to the front door...and filled it... filled it to the point I could barely shut the door. It was dream-ville for someone like her and anyone that loves fashion. I didn't blame them one bit for doing a little dress-up and trying on all the hats and capes they could find!  You'll just have to see the episode ..... checkout the Smithsonian site for the schedule

 I think I'm in shock that they shipped their purchases back to LA...in big boxes... I mean ... certain things... I just don't know about that one. I think they used FedEx to ship back... "all 14 boxes" ...(oh yes...I was looking hard at the delivery man's uniform at the end of the episode.... a trusted shipper of Doris Raymond is a shipper I'll trust too).  I would have personally made a roadtrip out of the event and driven my overloaded u-haul truck back to L.A. ....with my priceless vintage fashions... but maybe that's just a tad dramatic? :)

Happy Friday! 
later :)

Estate Sale Fables #1 - The Oregon Mouse

So begins a new blog series Estate Sale Fables, cautionary tales from property liquidations, buy-outs, and estate sales. I'm jumping ahead though...I need to tell you what prompted me to start this series.  Last week, a good friend of mine suddenly went from normal everyday living to being found unconscious and then in the ICU, in the course of a 24-hour period!  In the meantime I got a strong reminder of how quickly life really can happen.  You hear about these types of things all the time and think 'how awful for ...'.  And if your mom is as tuned into the local community as my mom is, she calls to tell you about the latest news, every week ha ha ha. We all say 'life changes so fast' at some point or another...then wham...someone in your inner circle actually has a life altering health crisis launching a ripple effect that causes you to make some different decisions, and likely reevaluate your own life. This particular incident definitely caused me to do some deep thinking, as it is the first time one of my close friends has experienced a critical health issue. 

It also prompted me to look at the situation from a professional perspective.  The majority of my clients are in no way prepared for the "after" portion of what to do with all of their friend or family member's belongings once the pinnacle of the critical event has passed.  Even when my clients have a heads up about major changes and a timetable ... what to do with all of the "stuff"  tends to be the 30th item on their to-do list.  Now, I'm going to sidestep the emotional bits in this series and leave that to the professionals: the clergy, counselors, your dog, or your cat etc., and stick to what I know, the tangibles, aka all of that stuff.  As a major proponent of client confidentiality, I will not be sharing any personal details, identifying information, or secrets about anyone's "stuff", emotional or otherwise.  Some details have been revised to protect privacy. What I will be sharing are some cautionary tales from my work, true stories about what led clients to seek out my services, and general client experiences that I hope will be of benefit to you.  Sometimes we're still in a state of shock post-crisis and we don't take time to consider value - tangible or sentimental.  I hope to help you see a little further down the line here in case you find yourself in a similar situation.  We all have stuff...everyday stuff, priceless treasures, and even valuables. You need to keep a few pointers in the forefront of your mind if you're the one in charge of going through "the stuff".  As a professional, I have seen and heard some things (you can add southern twang and read that as 'thangs' if you like). Stories that would make your jaw drop.  So, let's go.

What do you do when you suddenly inherit a home and ALL of its belongings?  Let's say 20, 40, or even 50 years of living?  Oh, and don't forget about all of the items in the garage, attic, the basement, and backyard shed.  As Americans ... oh my we have a LOT of stuff, especially Boomers who have lived in the same home for the bigger part of their lives.  How would you begin to handle a situation like this the decision making fell upon you?  What if you had to divide the decision making process with siblings and spouses? How many nights and weekends do you have free to start the sorting process?  

Does the mere mention of this strike a little panic in the pit of your stomach? Don't worry... I'm here to help.

The Fable of the Oregon Mouse

"The Oregon Mouse" began looking for some professional help in selling personal property after attempting to do so on her own had become "entirely overwhelming and dangerous", (we'll get to that part in a minute). The facts of her story aren't all that uncommon...it's the kind of scenario that plays out all across America on a daily basis. She'd been living full time in the beautiful Pacific Northwest for many years, but decided to relocate to the Carolinas in order to live closer to her aging parent. There had been a few accidental falls and health issues here, so living on the opposite coast and a 4 hour flight away was no longer realistic.  After relocating, things were a little hectic at first, but she managed to get a handle on the commute, work, and elder care. Then life happened in a big way.  Her parent had not one, but two serious falls while working in the yard over a 2 month period. The 2nd fall resulted in serious health complications and the unfortunate realization that her parent would no longer be able to live independently.  Suddenly The Oregon Mouse had many major decisions to make related to convalescent care, finances, legalities, etc...it was an already stressful situation, then came the reality, "what am I going to do with all this stuff".  She also inherited 2 small dogs to care for in the meantime too.  So there it was, a 1,500 square foot home, garage, and storage shed packed full of belongings that needed to be cleared out in less than 45 days, per the leasing co. She began spending every night after work and all of her weekends sorting through what to keep, trash, donate, and to determine what keepsakes should be saved. Some of the sorting process was emotional and took a lot more time than she had anticipated or allotted on some days. Some of the sorting was physically demanding work. Closet space was limited at the nursing home and there was little available storage in her personal apartment, so she started to explore options on where and how to sell certain items herself, asking co-workers for advice. The overwhelming answer she got from her younger and hip team members: just use Craigslist!  Everyone told her it was the easiest way to sell furniture quickly. So, The Oregon Mouse placed a sale ad on Craigslist, including a few general room and garage photos, and her cell # so she could kind of screen people and make appointments for them to come by. She figured it would be fine to have them simply call or email, set up a time to look at furniture and books, etc., after work or on Saturdays, when the neighbors should be around. Now, I have no horror tale of woe about Craigslist killers to relay here, the major news will always take care of that.  I'm actually a big fan of using Craigslist to sell certain kinds of items, but there are some not so smart ways to use the site and some safer ways to go about selling things via Craigs. Is anything 100% safe? No, but taking certain measures or using a different avenue like an experienced estate sale company will at least reduce the risk of danger significantly.  

So... what happened? Well, there were a few respondents that she screened by phone who pulled a no-show ... after she'd made a mad dash after work in crazy traffic on more than a few occasions, that was annoying. Then there was the man that came and stayed for quite a while, talking to her about anything and everything for a little over 2 hours--after all that talking, he only bought a few small kitchen appliances for $25 or so. She appreciated his sparkling conversation, but had a lot to do.

How valuable is your time? She considers her time to be pretty valuable, so this was one or many days of frustration. 

Then came a customer that really scared her. A man called and said he was interested in buying her washer and dryer set, he seemed like a nice person, asked a LOT of questions...so they scheduled a time. Later on he arrived, an hour late in fact (red flag #1 - responsible buyers tend to show up on time or even early.... if they're running late, they'll usually call). He had another guy in tow, "to help". Hmmm... she hadn't planned on two people being there with her --> after work, on a weekday, alone in the house. Let me set the scene here... the house sat pretty far back from a subdivision side-street, on a heavily wooded lot, not near a main road, and several hundred feet away from neighboring houses. Okay... back to the story. She was a little uneasy about this customer, you know the one, that feeling you kind of get when something just isn't quite right (red flag #2 - if something feels off... it probably is... listen to your gut feeling). He didn't bring a dolly cart to move the set like he'd told her he'd be bringing to move large appliances. After a quick look, he decided he didn't want the set..."they looked really old" (red flag #3 - in actuality, they were less than a year old...that should have been the end of their visit). She told them they were welcome to look at the living room furniture, kitchen appliances, and dining room set instead, but to please stay out of the back bedrooms...(she closed those doors off because she hadn't yet sorted in there and didn't want anyone in the rooms). There was also some fine jewelry in those rooms. She left the two men alone in the kitchen for a few minutes while she pulled some stuff out of the garage...ran a few bags down to the garbage, etc. When she came back to the kitchen, they weren't around! They'd been in the back bedrooms for over 20 minutes, alone...the very rooms she'd asked them to stay out of in the first place! Okay.... enough with the red flags...this situation is all kinds of wrong, oh but it gets even stranger. She politely asked them to leave those rooms and because she was going to have to leave soon. They took their time, but left the rooms. Then decided they'd leave. She stated there was a really awkward moment at this point, in that moment she feared they might try and overpower or attack her. Thankfully, they started to head out, but decided they'd look in the garage on the way. She was really nervous since it was starting to get late and a little dark. They started to pick through some garage shelves, asking if this or that was for sale.... no good... she told them she really had to go soon and that she hadn't had a chance to really sort through those things yet. They asked again on the same items they'd asked about a few minutes prior... that she'd already said no to. Game over... Did they buy anything? No, not a thing. However, in the time they were alone in the bedrooms, she later discovered that they'd stolen quite a bit of jewelry from the home. She realized after the fact that phone screens weren't the ideal way to go in selling items and that having buyers in the home alone...very dangerous. These two didn't harm her, but they scared her to death, and stole jewelry that meant a lot to her...things that cannot be replaced. In hindsight she thinks that they were probably weighing weather or not to go for an assault and robbery or just the robbery during that long awkward moment. She no longer felt safe in the home after that night, constantly worrying whether or not they'd be back to "shop" again or even break-in while she was at work... in talking to the police, she realized that she'd unintentionally shared her working hours with the burglars during their initial phone call. There were a lot of things I discussed with her after hearing her story... things I advised her to do differently if ever placed in a similar situation.  First and foremost, valuables (sentimental and expensive) items were removed from the home that day and taken to a safe location, out of sight of any would be watchers or future thieves. Arrangements were made to have the local authorities do some courtesy drive-by of the home to ensure things were intact when she couldn't be around. Any future sorting was done with friends and/or neighbors present... no more solo nights.

Sometimes our good intentions happen to go off course and having the oversight of a professional in the industry is worth it's weight in gold not only for protecting value, but health and safety. A detailed family history book was pulled from the bookshelf that she thought only contained novels and old cookbooks, personal paperwork with social security data was found in some old folders that she had thought about taking to a charity store... there are just many things that can be overlooked when you aren't looking for them. That's it for now... please keep safety at the forefront of your mind if you are handling a similar scenario. I strongly suggest you consult a professional... in fact, interview more than a few in advance of making any decisions. Meet in a public place. Discuss plans with a trusted friend or family members. 

More to come.

Why Vintage? It Takes You To A Place

Sometimes I wonder, why do collectors collect? What drives a person to start a collection of objects?  What makes you go for that particular vintage dress by Chanel, that certain piece of vintage jewelry, an amazing Elvis album, or the little figurine that will sit in a place of prominence in your home? Is it a memory, a comfort, your happy place?

After a bit of thinking...I think it boils down to a pretty simple and short theory. It takes you to a place...a place you want to go.  Part of the fun in my endless treasure hunt for vintage and antique finds is that seeing or owning certain items evokes a memory of a place in time for me ... maybe it ties to a stop in my own life, a fabulous period in history, having admired the object at a friend or relative's home, or perhaps it looks like it could have been a prop from a classic movie.  Irregardless, seeing that item ... it takes me to a place I like.

Of course the other answer to this question can be even more simple... you just love it! Seeing that little figurine or piece of art can make you smile each time you come across it at your home or office. Wearing Chanel can make you feel like the goddess of the universe (as it should!). Maybe the object reflects on your values or expresses who you are. One of my favorite eras to collect from is the 1930's and 1940's ... I find that there is a certain innocence to this time in early America ... a fiber of what American life was built on ... families, strong values, quality, a great respect for even the most mundane essentials. If it's clothing, a book, or accessory from the era... the quality in workmanship always seems top notch ... built to last just like this period in time.

So just a few thoughts to kickoff the blog... there will be more soon. You're invited to stop by my Etsy shop to see what's new or old and add to your own collection.