I blame Joanna Gaines and her impeccable Fixer Upper style, but lately my husband and I have been spending a considerable amount of time hunting for antiques and unique pieces for our new home. We’ve found a few things here or there, but I’m pretty much not as talented as old Jo Jo. In our quest for antiques we’ve hopped from antique mall to thrift shops and finally to estate sales. Estate sales are a new world to me, we’ve only been to two so far…they were both interesting, let me tell you.

The first one we went to wasn’t actually antique filled at all, but rather a model home sale. All items were essentially brand new and they were selling everything but the window fixtures, so I was up for an adventure. The doors opened at 10am and they recommended getting there first, so we arrived at 9:45am, to a line. It was one of the coldest weekends we have had all year, and we were basically already last, so we waited in the car instead of standing in the cold with the boys. The small gathering reminded me of Black Friday with everyone jumping up and down for warmth with hungry, ready to find a deal, eyes. The competitive nature in me was coming out. As the doors were opening we hopped out of the car and into the chaos that was this estate sale. Before I could even focus my attention on anything, people were snatching up lamps, mirrors and pictures off of the walls. You would think we were in the midst of the Lilly Pulitzer for Target launch. The house was going from professionally decorated to totally empty in a matter of minutes. As chairs were snatched and pillows were hugged, we spied a console table that no one had spotted yet. Initially I grabbed it’s tag simply because it was one of the only things left and I wanted to feel like the winner of something. The table wasn’t antique at all, of course, but it had a nice little rustic vibe and tons of cubby holes; I like the idea of cubby holes! places to put things!!!. So we grabbed a basket that had also been looked over and carried our winnings out of the house. The sighs and sad faces of the ones who missed out on our table as we carried it through the living room almost made it that much sweeter. sweet victory Next time, you can bet I’ll go for those lamps and mirrors first!

The next estate sale we went to was full of antiques, but I really lack Joanna’s creative eye. This sale was obviously the sale of an elderly persons estate and it really just made me…sad. I almost felt like we would be taking memories from the home that someone made if we purchased from this sale, so we didn’t grab anything there. Maybe I’m not really into antiques at all, but rather the idea or the look of antiques, you know what I mean?

Estate sales aside, I’ve been building my spring wardrobe lately. I love when the stores clear out the left over winter sweaters and bring out the bright spring merchandise. I’ve been loving LOFT lately. On my last shopping trip I grabbed this tank, cardigan, sunglasses and then hit Nordstrom for these lace up flats.

Let’s hear it, have you ever been to an estate sale? Or, what have you picked up for your spring wardrobe lately?

– Brooke