One man's junk

A good friend of mine conducts estate sales, and the biggest one she’s ever done starts next week. It’s taken her almost three months to sort through everything, because the owners were hoarders. Hoarders with money.

When my friend started cleaning out the cabinets, she found 37 boxes of Ritz crackers and 17 bottles of Liquid-Plumr. They bought everything in outlandish quantities, including decorator items, linens, jewelry…and, to some extent, furniture, which was lined up around the walls end-to-end.

On my first brief walk-through, I saw several great pieces of Blenko, a pristine Adrian Pearsall sofa and a cute little blonde glass front bookcase that I may buy if it’s still there on Half Off Day. There was also a huge lighted Van Hoople picture, a great china cabinet and a funky blue and green lucite chunk light fixture.

The next day, my friend called to say she’d practically give me the sofa for $125 if I’d promise to come get it right away. They needed the space to walk around more than they needed the sofa.

I know most of you mid-century lovers are already avid estate salers, but if you aren’t, you should give it a try. The treasures are out there if you have the patience to hunt for them…and literally dig them out, if necessary.

Adrian Pearsall sofa at the sale house, lost in "the junk"

Sofa at my house, right before I sold it for a really nice profit