The Tween's Room Teaser!

For months now I've had the tween's room on my "projects under construction" list on the right side of the blog- We've been working on it, it's just not completely done. So, in order to give myself a little kick in the pants, I thought I'd start sharing the room bit by bit (maybe this way we'll get it all done before the month's over) I thought I'd start with the before pictures...I obviously didn't straighten the room before taking these pictures! Those who have teenagers know THIS is the reality! We decorated this room 5 years ago for my other teenage daughter, who has since moved to the other end of the house. The furniture was purchased 8 years ago at a yard sale for $300 (It's all Lexington, heavy, solid wood)
I'm not sure how well the vanity shows up in the right corner, but it's purple! We picked that up at an estate sale and painted it purple (her favorite color) Mr. Right built the shadow boxes above the vanity.
The lights were purchased at IKEA and Mr. Right installed them. The curtains are actually an extra pair of bedsheets and dictated the colors in the room. The wall treatment is tissue paper. When putting up the tissue paper (with glue and water) Mr. Right wanted to know how we would ever take it down. "It will be just like wallpaper," I said, "Spray a little hot water, and it will peel right off," I assured him. Boy was I WRONG!!! The tissue paper wall was the first item under attack for the make-over. We sprayed, scraped and sprayed some more (we even added fabric softener to the water because someone said that works on wallpaper) This is how the wall looked after a few hours...
At the rate I was going it would only take me 72 hours of spraying and scraping to have the wall clean. We needed a new plan. To Home Depot we went. What could I cover the wall with? Sheet metal, to use as a giant magnet board? Corkboard? Wallpaper, that would cost $300 plus dollars and 2 weeks to order? Then I saw some panels that were made to look like antique ceiling tin- perfect! Only problem- to do the one wall would cost $800 plus dollars- No can do! So off to Lowes we went. Just when I thought all hope was lost I found an interesting product in the very back of the store. Paintable wallpaper- with the antique ceiling tin pattern!

At $12 per roll and only 2 rolls needed It was the perfect solution. Here it is on the wall...

So now we had to decide what paint treatment to use. I did a sample piece, trying to make it look like vintage tin by using a cream paint and glaze treatment. The problem (sorry no picture) was that it blended the wall to0 much (since the other walls were painted tan) So then I tried this...I used a dry brush and a tiny bit of black paint to just catch the raised portion of the pattern. I kinda liked the effect- unfortunately the bright tissue could still be seen through the wallpaper- so we tried another treatment...Here, I painted the wallpaper tan to match the other walls. Then applied the black dry brush treatment. I thought I liked it, so we did the whole wall- til 1:30 in the morning. There's nothing like sleeping on a design decision- When I woke up I hated it! The black was not consistant and it created so much pattern I didn't think I could use the bedding I had found- so, I painted the whole wall black! I know some people shy away from using black on walls, but I love it. Can't show you the whole thing (remember the title said "Teaser") so here's a little peek...I guess you can also see the vanity isn't purple anymore. Let me know what you think of the black wall. There's more to come so keep checking back and see how we transform a loud, bright tween's room, to a more sophisticated space. Love, Kelly

The Psychology of Selling Trash

After all this time, why am I still tempted to keep this shirt for myself?

I know Twilight was so 2008, but I still love it all: 

the passion, the romance, the commercialism.

I’m so predictable, but so is the reality that Edward Cullen is and will always be a hottie. 

I used to put a limit on my thrift store shopping, maybe once a week, but now that I’m doing this for a living, I get to shop as much as I want.

And I find a lot of trash; some to keep and some to re-sell.

I find things like this:

I polish this solid maple wood rocking chair up with Old English until it shines like new and re-sell it for a decent profit. 

Underneath the seat of this chair it says MADE IN CHINA – ASSEMBLED IN UNITED STATES.

The economy is stressful and so many people out there need jobs.  We need more things made in America, not just assembled.

I ran into a friend the other day.

“I need to do what you’re doing?” she said.  “My husband and I are struggling and I'd love to be able to make a little extra money.  I just don’t know how to get started and I’m so busy and I don’t really like to shop at garage sales and thrift stores.”

Honestly, if she doesn’t love to shop, then I don’t think this is the job for her.

The love of shopping is what gets me out there as often as I go.  If I didn’t love shopping, then this trash thing would be a real drag.

What is it about the hunt that’s so exciting?

Beware.

Being raised by a psychologist and marrying a family counselor does this to me.

It makes me evaluate the psychological complexity of certain situations:

Like Shopping Trash.

Let me have a little conversation between myself and my psyche.

Psyche - Laura, what is it you’re looking for.  Is there a part of your life that’s not fulfilled?

Self - No, I just really like to shop.

Psyche – What in your life is void, what is missing?

Self – I think I’m pretty happy, I just love a great deal.

Psyche – Is there a lost piece of your inner-child heart?  What exactly are you searching for?

Self –I paid $1.00 for my “I love Edward Cullen shirt”.  I’m thrilled.  I promise you, nothing is missing now that I have this shirt.

Psyche – But if you’re always looking for something then how can you be at peace with what you already have?

Self – What?

Psyche – Are you going to eat that cookie?

Self – No, you can have it.

I have no problem shopping trash all day long, but I wonder if I’m really cut out for the business side of it.  Before I started re-selling, I still did a lot of shopping. 

What did I do with everything I bought?

Honestly, I gave a lot of stuff away.  If I had a friend pregnant with her first baby, I’d buy her baby clothes on $1.00 day.  A new neighbor, not to worry.  I found her a kitchen table.  A brother going away to college in Utah.  Yes, I found him all the sweaters and coats he could stuff in his car.  

I still give a lot away, but re-selling takes a bit of discipline.  I can’t just give everything away anymore.  A sweet friend of mine was over last week and she fell in love with an orange velvet couch I’d just brought home.  There the couch was, sitting in my garage all fluffed up, ready for me to photograph, put on craig's list and re-sell, but she wanted to buy it from me instead.

Do you know how hard it was for me to just not give it to her?  Selling a couch to my own friend isn’t easy to stomach.  I felt like a trader to my own soul. 

As much fun as shopping trash is, it's also work.  There’s so much to learn and as you can tell by my conversation with self and psyche, I probably need therapy.  Selling trash is not for everyone, like my other friend who was apologetic because she hadn’t sold anything on eBay yet.  If you read this blog, please don’t feel guilty if you’re not re-selling trash too.  


You can still buy stuff new, made in American and pay full price for it. 


If you have the money and there’s something you want, it’s alright to splurge. 

I still splurge, well, on frozen yogurt, but it’s something I pay full price for, well, I usually have a buy one-get one free coupon, but you know what I mean.

Now, I’m going to go hand-wash my new “I heart Edward Cullen “shirt.  I’ve got a date with the counselor for Valentines Day and I know just what I’m going to wear.

Trash To Cash Wednesday!

With only 24 new items to list this week, I was expecting low numbers. However, the few items I did have to list, were all my favorite brands. Let's see how they did...This Women's Chico's Design Size 2 (Large) Black Linen Dress Sold for $10.49

You know how Laura and I love Anthropologie. This Women's Anthropologie Petit Pois Size M Black Dress sold for $10.51

I considered these Women's size 2X Coldwater Creek Black velveteen overalls to be a wild card! I was "wildly" surprised when they sold for $11.00. (sorry that was really cheesy!)

Plus size and tall! These Women's Lane Bryant Size 16 Tall Gray Career Pants sold or $12.00

I thought this Women's Chico's Travelers Size 2 Duster Jacket with fringe was so unique. I took a chance at spending $5.00 on it at a church fundraiser. It sold for $13.50Another Anthropologie item! This Women's Lily Size S Pink Dress sold for $13.99
Another splurge item at the church sale. I spent $6.00 on this Lane Bryant Black Sweater Dress (it all goes to charity anyway) It sold for $16.50- sometimes it's worth it to invest a little more. These Women's NWT plastic by Gly size 29 Trouser Denim Jeans were not a thrift store find. I purchased them for my daughter (she picked them out) over a year ago. We purchased them at the beginning of the summer for part of her back to school wardrobe. By the end of summer, she was completely over the style. We bought them at 50% off and didn't lose too much when they sold for $20.99

So here's this weeks totals:

Ebay Total:$350.80

Costs: 75.00(clothes), 41.10(ebay fees), 29.26(paypal fees)

Total Profit: $204.64

I'm happy with the week. Just in case you've been wondering why my clothes costs have been so high compared to the number of items I'm listing, I've been stocking up for summer. I can't wait until things warm up and I can list all my "free" clothes. I figure if I take the costs out now, I'll really see some big profits later (I hope so anyway) Have a great week. Love, Kelly

How to handle returns?

I recently received the following two emails:

  Hello. I love your blog and find it very inspirational! So I have decided to start selling  a few items in hopes to start bringing in some money to help the family budget. However I have sold some hiking shoes that I thought were womens only to find out they are mens. The buyer would like to return them. I did not know they were mens! Has this happened to you and if so how did you handle it?  What should I do?And if I return them how is shipping handled?

And another one

Thanks for your blog!  It has inspired me to sell on ebay, and I have been selling clothes for the past few months.  Generally, this has gone well, however I received an email today regarding a return.
A woman had purchased 2 skirts from me, and would like to return them because they don't fit.  In my return policiy, it says 3 days and buyer pays shipping.  Since I don't have specifically that I won't return an item because it doesn't fit, do you reccommend that I accept the return and put a disclaimer on future auction pages?

I guess it’s time to discuss returns.

Returns are an unfortunate and sometimes messy aspect of eBay, but it’s most likely to happen at some point in time.  I’ve shipped many great items, only to have the customer not happy with the shade of blue or upset the pants are pleated instead of flat. 

My rule of thumb is this:

If the return is based on personal taste, I do not refund shipping.

If the return in based on error, for example a stain was found, a tear, or the item was mis-measured, then I refund all shipping costs as well.

Funny, I say all that like I'm the boss, but customers can be sticky.  

Here's an example.  A customer recently purchased this Calvin Klein Dress from me for $14.00. 

After receiving the dress, she was not happy with the low dip collar line and wanted to return the dress not just for a full refund, but for shipping costs too.  She said the photo does not clearly display the collar line and that was my error.

I'm not too sure about that, but because I don't want negative feedback, I did refund her shipping costs too.

Another idea if the customer demand you pay for shipping costs?

If I don’t want to pay the return shipping costs, I have the customer donate the item to their local thrift store, but I still return original shipping and cost of the merchandise.

Returns aren’t pretty and I’m glad they do not happen very often.

I do think it’s important to have a return policy displayed in all your listings.  Mine goes a little something like this:

Positive feedback is very important to me.  If you purchase something from my store, I want you to be 100% satisfied.  Please contact me if you have any concern with your item and I will do my best to resolve the issue in your favor.  I work for you, the customer and love finding you the cutest fashions and the lowest prices. 

  I do ship internationally and charge $14.95 for most items.  I am also happy to offer a shipping discount on multiple items.  Please add $2.00 for the first item and $1.00 for any additional items to the highest shipping price on the items you are purchasing. Paypal payments are expected within three days of purchase. I will send invoices out as soon as possible and you are welcome to pay for your item even if you have not received an invoice.  I will not contact you unless there is some problem with your item.  Please ignore the flash bubbles my camera leaves on dark clothing.  I enjoy making every eBay experience a great one. 

In a way, eBay can be so impersonal, with sellers and buyers barking at each other so I really want my customers to know that I will do my best to resolve each issue as it comes.  I think of how I’m treated when I shop at a department store.  For the most part, I’m granted requests on returns and I feel my eBay customer should have the same benefit.

Keep communication open and you should still have a good experience, even if you are out the shipping costs.

How to get a over-priced somewhat tacky bird room divider for free?

It’s probably pretty obvious that my new favorite love is birds (more like obsession, just check out this post to clarify), so when I found this bird room divider I had to have it.

But it was marked at $100.00.

Seriously, $100.00 at a thrift store.

I know!  Ridiculous, but I still had to have it.

And with 1/2-off day coming up, if it was still there I could get it for $50.00.

You know what time it is?

It’s time to think out of the box.

So, what do I do?

I purchase these 2 Old Navy Maternity Jeans at a yard sale for .25 cents each and they sell for $20.50 on eBay.

I also purchase this $.25 cent Audrey Hepburn shirt and sell it for $6.99.

I’m halfway there.

How can I earn another $25.00 and fast?

I find a bunch of dolls at a garage sale and offer the homeowner $10.00 for the lot of them.  

I know nothing about dolls and have never collected them, but for $10.00, it’s worth a try to resell them.

These two sell for $15.00 each over the weekend at the estate sale.

Their so life-like, it was a bit freaky pricing and staging them, you know with the whole Chuckie thing.  Why do horror movies have to ruin a perfectly good moment with freakishly life-like dolls?  Gesh!  Even my kids said "Mom, get them out of the house." 

Anyway, I digress. 

After I take away my initial $10.00 investment, I’ve earned another $15.00.

I’ve almost earned the $50.00 I need for my must-have room divider.  For the love of birds, I must have it.

This Rampage cocktail dress is a $1.00 investment at a garage sale.  

I know it will bring in at least $10.00 on eBay (if not more), but when I get home I find several holes in it.  I'm down a $1.00 and throw the dress out, but I don't get easily discouraged.  I'm going to keep going.

These darling Nemo Converse shoes sell for $4.99 on eBay.  

It's not much of a profit, but still I'm a few dollars closer to my goal.

To make this experiment a bit more complicated, little sister started crawling.  

She's all over the place and so am I keeping up with her, but I'm focused on earning the money for my over-priced somewhat tacky bird room divider.

A Mickey Mouse biking jacket sells for $9.99.

I'm about ready to purchase my over-priced somewhat tacky bird room divider when something gets in the way of my purchase.

This is what happens when you shop trash frequently.

I find this large steel vintage owl mirror that apparently used to sit on top of a scale.  You can barely see, but at the bottom of the owl is printed "Insert coin here."

Don't you love him?

Once I hang him on the wall, Reef wants to pet him.

So many birds with so little time, but I have to stay focused on my bird room divider.  In no time I sell this $1.00 Cynthia Skirt for $8.99 on eBay.

With one more sell of trash, I can have both tacky bird home decor for free.

Remember my bamboo room divider I found to re-sell on Craig's list.

It sells!  One funky room divider deserves another, so with the money I make I run to the thrift store to purchase my treasure.

It's all in a days work of selling trash and with the money I've earned it's like my vintage owl mirror and over-priced somewhat tacky bird room divider was free.

Yip-pee!
Linking up to:

Estate Sale This Friday and Saturday 7:00am

This estate sale is a little different. We had to move it out of the client's house with one of these...A 26' truck didn't quite hold it all, but we got close. Turns out the client's house is located in a neighborhood that doesn't allow estate sales. So we moved it another location in Mesa. The sale will be outside, but don't let that fool you. We have a house full of Ethan Allen Furniture and accessories. We also have a Thomasville bedroom and dining set. Tons of household items, collectibles, etc. Here's a sneek peek at some of the items (before they were moved)We have a whole set that matches this incredibly heavy Thomasville Dresser! We're selling the pieces separately- can't you just see this dresser painted turquoise with a glaze?

Here's a start of the Ethan Allen Furniture. These pieces will also be priced separately. Within this unit is a really cool sewing table. The pieces date to over 50 years ago, but look brand new.
More Ethan Allen tables and a living room set.
The client has traveled every where and has a plate to prove it. Ethan Allen desk, lamp and accessories.

More Ethan Allen. I love the shutters they used for the doors. You can see lots more pictures (and even more pictures will be added tonight) by visiting Estatesales.net The address is released on that site and we surely hope to see you there! Love, Kelly.

Trash To Cash Wednesday!

It was slim pickings at the thrift store this week, so I only had 27 items to list. I find that how much I make is definitely correlated to how many items are listed. On weeks where I list 60 new items (this is my average) I can almost always be guaranteed a $500 plus week. With only 27 new items, it works out to be about 50% less revenue. So lets take a look at the top sellers...J.Jill Size 14P Tan Graphic Cotton Skirt sold for $10.87Michael Kors Size XL black dress sold for 13.75

If you can find Grey's Anatomy scrub pants scoop them up. They consistently sell high. These size M black scrub pants sold for $14.49

These leather pants with gold thread pinstriping were a definite wild card. However, leather always seems to do well. These Women's Wilson's Maxima size 18 brown leather pants were my top seller this week when they sold for $14.99. So here's the totals...

Ebay Total:$329.36

Craigslist Total:0

Costs: 40.00(clothes), 35.55(ebay fees), 31.44(paypal fees)

Total Profit: $222.37

It's nice to take a little break every now and then and only list a few items. So wish me luck this week. Love, Kelly