Still hunting for the finishing touches for your Danish modern living room? Perhaps your kitchen is missing an elusive accessory that just can't be snapped up at Pottery Barn. This Labor day weekend, take an opportunity to walk off the bar-b-que by browsing garage sales, thrifting and combing your local antique stores for decorative objects and furniture begging for a make-over.
While many Americans enjoy garage sales as a traditional summer
past time, for some entrepreneurs like husband and wife interior design team
Linda Wary and John Meyers garage sales are an opportunity to reinterpret
and refurbish someone elses’ castoffs yielding a big payoff.
Here are their top tips for translating flea market finds into extra cash or major statement pieces:
Go to all the sales advertised and get there early. They get crowded quickly.
Follow streets on telephone poles to unadvertised sales. You'll score the best deals with less competition.
Try to bargain, and always know your spending limits.
Know the boundaries of your restoration abilities and your patience. You can clean and refinish, sand and repaint. But a piece of furniture that smells will always smell.
Use your imagination and update furniture with modern hardware (I love the girly choices from Anthropologie). Or add new upholstery. Find a fabulous lamp base, update it with a new shade. If you see a slab off wood or a spare part available inexpensively, how can you use it? Maybe as a top of a side table.
Inspired? Find a local garage sale now. Or Click here to see some of Linda and John's latest finds featured in The New York Times.
















