Junque!

I am a little off-topic this week, but I have to tell you about my day at Junque, my favorite shop on Earth.

Here is the front door:

It's crazy. I don't know how people find this place. I only know about it because Laura told me. I think Tammy Geiger told her about it. There is no advertisement that I know of (until now!) and obviously no signage. Sometimes on Saturday he puts an old bicycle out front to catch the eye of would-be buyers.

He.

He is Regan Young ("Ree-gan"), my hero in junk management. From what I can piece together, he demolishes buildings for the salvageable architecture and makes stuff out of the dregs, which he then sells. In the mean time, he stores the stuff in a warehouse in the Lemp Brewery district, which he rents. You can go to the warehouse on Saturdays from 10-5 and buy the stuff... unless it is something that he is "saving" for one of his "projects". I think he has a lot of projects in the works. There is a lot of stuff he refuses to sell me.

This warehouse holds easily one million pieces of junque. The junk merits a "Q" because it is all special. It is all beautiful. After just a few moments in Junque, you can see that every single piece in the warehouse has been carefully chosen, cleaned, and categorized.

Here is the door knob section:

And here is the old-time-heating-grate-department:

When you go, be sure to see the weird-keyhole-plate-thingy-area. These things are pricey:

Today I went with a goal in mind: I needed a dining room table. I recently rearranged the furniture (surprised? Ha!) and have freed up an entire room... the room being the original dining room of my 1930s house which, until recently, was our family room. Until today, all we had for dining was a kitchen breakfast nook which, for 7 people, isn't quite enough on Thanksgiving or Easter.

So I had in mind a table that would involve something creative and unusual as the base, with a 60 inch round piece of table top glass atop it. Junque was the only place I could imagine finding such a creative base for my imaginary table. Maybe I could have found something good at my second favorite store in the world: the concrete and metal garden shop on 255 in Dupo. More on that later.

I got lost going to Junque, as I always do. Once I leave I64 I am a hopeless retard. Usually I see Gus's Pretzels and I'm home free, but today I turned the wrong way. Dork.

I pulled in the back way... I should say that if you have never been to Junque but you have ever watched NYPD Blue, you would think this place is exactly where people get raped and beaten. It is an old brewery complex. Lots of warehouses and gravel. Lots of scary loading docks and abandoned buildings. But it is my favorite store on Earth, remember?!

So I pull up and start salivating. There, in the "recently acquired" pile, are three clawfoot bathtubs and various elevator components. Mmmmmm. Junque-y!

Regan was hard at work moving cool, old stuff around with his friend "Crash". Crash's real name is Richard. He is very tall and looks a little bit like Sean Penn. He had on some sort of biker t-shirt and a head wrap that implied a love of motorcycling. He told me I could call him "Dick" or "Asshole" but I opted for "Crash".

So Regan tells me to go on in, make myself at home. I like to imagine I am his favorite customer. On the day that I first met him, he told me I looked like his old girlfriend. I sort of figure I have a special place in his Junque-y heart, right? I try not to flirt too openly, but I know he has a crush on me.

I spent 2 1/2 hours in Junque. I looked at every piece... twice. I planned a number of wonderful dining room tables only to have Regan talk me out of them because the components were too impractical or too treasured to part with.

But right away I saw this:

This, which I found in the random-things-you-could-use-as-table-tops department, is a 4x6 piece of table glass with a gorgeous beveled edge. Bingo! Now all I needed was a base.

I found this gorgeous (ok... sort of yucky and dirty and old) crate. It was full of marble scraps and Regan did not want to part with it, but I knew it was my perfect table base.

There was much discussion and haggling. Crash was summoned for a second opinion. They doubted its stability. They doubted its practicality. My stomach started to rumble. Pizza arrived. Apparently, Regan decorated/supplied a family of pizzerias and has some sort of special relationship with them. They delivered three pizzas which were SO FREAKIN' DELICIOUS I might have to move to Plaza Frontenac. Here are the remains of the meat pizza:

It was like a bacon cheeseburger with extra cheese served open face. The pizzeria is called "Sugo's" and we should all go there immediately, making them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Finally, I put my foot down. "I want the damn crate!" I said.

No. Not really. I sort of had to beg. But Regan acquiesced and we loaded the glass and the crate into my car. Once home, Laura helped me unload the 600 pound glass and crate. I vacuumed the crate and soaked that sucker with Old English. Then I gave it a spray of polyurethane. Voila!

How freakin' awesome is THAT?!! I know... really, really awesome.

There was more: a marble triangle, a coveted span of copper... and the kicker?? Crash (Richard) is the owner of my second favorite store on 255 in Dupo!! Here is a rare photo the two creative geniuses together:

It was an unforgettable day, Readers. I need a day of rest before the excitement of the 50-Family sale in Soulard this Saturday.

Until next time, please keep in mind that my birthday is July 7 and this is all I want:

Skivving -- May 8

No photos from today. Sorry. Here are some highlights:

• Twenty 65 watt indoor flood bulbs for my basement can lights which seem to burn out frequently just to spite me . $3.
• Three rainbow haired troll dolls. $1.
• One sweatshirt sporting Tweety Bird riding a motorcycle. $1.
• Four long tab top curtains which I actually needed. They were on my list of things to buy at Target. I figure by paying $15 at a garage sale I saved at least 75, right?
• Twenty 6 oz juice glasses. $2.

and finally,

• The motherload of fine clothing. Coldwater Creek, Chico's, some Kohl's brand. At least 6 beautiful skirts, 2 trendy dresses, 3 fancy blouses, 4 brand new t-shirts, 5 more misc tops, 3 pairs of pajamas. $40. Freakin' A.

We are in high yardsale season, Readers. Check back every week!

Dupo, take two

This item confused me. I thought it was some strange animal butt pillow at the sale. When I look at this photo, however, I can see they are cats and I was looking at the back. Oh well. I had low blood sugar, too much caffeine, and I was freezing.


The gentleman below is named Charles. He is a very nice retired teacher who was selling this school filing cabinet, which I am lusting after. He wants $200 for it, which, as anyone knows who reads this blog, is much too pricey for me. I offered him $50 with my phone number. Charles, call me. I will go up to $55.

This is a strange house with half an upstairs. Our dear friend Samantha is an architect. Sam, what the hell?

Ok, so the picture below is in the wrong order. It is an excellent cabinet that I offered to purchase and was turned down. All the cool things in the garage below this picture were not for sale. Dora items were for sale (nice propieter gave Hudson a free Dora book! Thanks!); brilliant old items=not for sale.

Here is the nice man's garage (nice man: if you are reading this, let us know your name in comments below! Thanks!) His wife was equally nice. This is the best set up for a yard sale, really. Cold? Windy? Rainy? No problem-plenty of room in the excellent garage! He also had a great chalkboard which wasn't for sale, but offered to let me see the man cave in the upstairs. He told me nothing was for sale in the upstairs, though, so I declined, because really that would just make me sad.

So there you have it, good reader. My recap of delightful Dupo. Stay tuned for Nancy's montage of Belleville skivs.

Dupo!

Dupo-really, by the name alone, would you think it would be a yard saling treasure? This little village close to somewhere (really, I got lost just finding the sales so you wouldn't expect me to know where in the midwest it is located, would you?) was (once again like Millstadt) chock full of wonderfully friendly, generous proprieters, junky items for purchase, and plentiful sales. My new favorite sale is the old village-wide sale, where the houses are smack dab close and you can park and walk and every time you turn a corner your eyes delight in the voluminous sales.
We started late this morning, as I was alone (Nancy had to chaperone a sleepover attended by roughly two dozen 8-10 year old girls; Samantha is away again with newly-returned-from Quatar-husband and son). I thought I was escaping with nary a child in sight (it being Mother's Day weekend and all), but alas, my two youngest cuties decided the allure of free or nearly-free toys was too compelling.
Here is Campbell with the world's biggest wreath at a multi-family sale. It was the windiest yard sale I have personally ever attended; the temperature was 46 when we started this morning but with the wind chill, it must have been closer to 30. It was freezing and my boys were such troopers.

So I can't figure out how to move pictures. I am a loser. The one below is supposed to go at the end, but reference the previous loser statement. Here is Hudson with our haul.....everything you see (on the couch) for $5.

This was a fantastic church rummage sale at Sacred Heart Church in Dupo. Friendly service, cheap prices, plenty of merchandise!

This is the largest basket of fake bread and cheese I have ever seen. I asked the propieter (who turned down a photo op posing with her basket) about it and she said she was into decorating and she would regularly change the breads and cheeses. I think. Did I mention it was freezing? I was having a hard time concentrating on anything other than maintaining my body temperature.

Here we are back at the church rummage sale with my two happy boys. This car bed collasped (the top part anyway) right after I snapped this photo. Not to worry as I believe it is supposed to come off to allow a mattress to be placed inside. It goes without saying this was a desired item by the boys, which I quicly vetoed. Not to worry about it receiving a good home; we saw it in the back of someone's pickup moments later.

I have to start a new post to get the rest of my pictures as I am unable to fit them all on one. See Dupo, part two!

Car Bar

Here is the Car Bar project after license plates. It took a few weird, shiny photos for me to realize I had to turn off the flash because license plates are, by design, highly reflective. Duh.

You will notice a few gaps on the left. I was somehow shorted Louisiana and Idaho in my shipment from Anita, the fine Ebay seller in Connecticut. She assures me it was an oversight and that they are in the mail.

I'm on the hunt for 4 matching bar stools. They have to be reused/recycled/repurposed of course!

Millstadt: you've got it going' on

I love Millstadt. There is a chance if I had viewed this lovely village prior to moving into my neighborhood, I would have lived there. Truly marvelous people (a koala stuffed animal and golf ball were given to my children for free), adorable old houses, and a Subway that ran out of coffee at 8:10am. Ok, so this wasn't a positive. But anyway.
The above picture is of wood. Regular readers of this blog (hi, 6 followers!) will recall (if they were paying attention) that I like wooden things. (For the quiz later, Nancy likes metal things and Samantha likes glass.) Old wooden things are even better. I saw this delightful stack of wood at a sale and gave the nice proprieteress my number so she could tell me the square feet, type, and price. Ah, the sounds of my husband freaking out!


Nancy noticed this most clever use of a ladder and snapped this photo (ok, she took all the photos. I was late picking her up since I had my kids and forgot my camera) of an excellent way to display yard sale items. Brilliant! Must remember this for later!

Nancy referred to the best treehouse ever. Here it is. Not only is it solidly constructed, but someone lovingly and carefully sanded/stripped the entire tree so their kids wouldn't get splinters! Love it! What kid wouldn't go nuts?

Here is my 6 year old Campbell, joyfully and incessantly ringing this little bell that he found in a free box. Free boxes + children=happiness. Free boxes containing bells+ children=adults with headaches. But look how happy this made him.

Here is Hudson. His favorite color is yellow. Can you tell? This was towards the end of our spectacular day. He was tired. I was tired. Everyone was tired. Hudson says, "I can't walk very good" when he gets tired and drops his arms to the floor like an orangutang. (How do you spell orangutang?) He hunches over and eventually falls to the ground like this. Luckily, instead of doing it in a dirty thrift store like he normally does, he found this lovely patch of green grass to lie down on. He is holding his free golf ball.


I spent about $9 today and got lots of goodies: a very old chalkboard, a wooden sign thing with our neighbor's last name, countless toys and books and children-related items, kitchen towels and cloth napkins, and I can't remember what else. It was a perfect day!

May Day in Milstadt

Once again, we drove out to Milstadt on a Saturday morning. But while last time was for a multi-vendor, school rummage sale, today our goal was a village-wide yard sale bonanza! They advertised 105 yard sales throughout the small, rural community.

We departed at 645 am in Laura's van with four kids as assistants: Sawyer, Campbell, Hudson, and JoJo. Donny had planned to go but when push came to shove he couldn't make it out of bed that early.

It was a foggy morning as Laura hauled ass out to Milstadt. We used my new and improved map-book and some cracker-jack directions from Milstadt resident and school principal, R.Dane Gale. (The R most likely does NOT stand for Rocky.)

As we impatiently approached the Dutch village, we skivved down Sunset Dr. Our first stop was at the most well-run yardsale I have ever seen. They announced their sale with a boutique quality "open" sign, hung expertly on their mailbox.

Their display was tidy and organized. Their prices clearly and uniformly marked. This retired couple had a collection of craft dolls hanging on rope suspended from the garage ceiling by a cleverly placed patio table. Excellent use of rafters, folks!

I purchased a set of ten glasses featuring the Big Ten universities. They are old, so old that they are from a time when there were only ten schools in the Big Ten. My husband tells me there are now 12 schools in this conference. Honestly... that's weird, right?

Just a few doors down Sunset Dr. were two more yardsales. I snagged this baker's rack for only 20 bucks.

I needed this rack because of my leaky basement.

I'll explain: our basement leaks a little. If it rains really hard we get a small rivulet of water which runs from the north wall to the floor drain in the southwest quadrant of the basement. Along the way there are walls made of drywall. Over the years, mold started to grow. My contractor assures me drywall was a poor choice for the basement walls in the first place and for the low-low price of $2000 was happy to rip out the lower half of the drywall and replace it with backer board, a wall material used in high moisture areas like under the tile in bathrooms and stuff. So while we were ripping the basement to shreds we decided to add something fun and had the contractor build a bar in the basement. It's not plumbed yet and the behind-the-scenes area of the bar is totally raw so I needed this baker's rack for the bar back. Here it is with the Big Ten glasses displayed atop.

The faces of the bar will eventually be covered with the 100 license plates I found on Ebay. Check back next week for a glimpse of the completed bar project.

One problem. Since we had 4 kids with us and only Laura's cute little Odyssey (rather than the giant van-o-dreams) we couldn't transport the rack inside our vehicle. We were forced to use the roof rack for the first time in yardsaling history! Thankfully, Geoff (Laura's husband) is always prepared with bungee cords in the van. And the rack seller gave us free rope. I offered to pay for it but he said we could have it for free because he had stolen it in the first place. Lucky us. Here is a photo of our excellent tie-down efforts:

I should mention that in the past I have tied down a Christmas tree only to have it slide to the pavement outside a Pizza Hut. Also, my father, whom I resemble in many ways, once tied down our luggage only to have it fly off and pop open on a rural Georgia road. I tell you this so you can appreciate the fact that this rack made it home without incident.

On to the the Milstadt sale proper!

Remember our Brentwood, MO experience of last summer? There were a bazillion sales on every street? All we had to do was find a parking spot and walk from garage to garage to garage? It was just like that but with junkier stuff and farmier people. In my opinion, it made for a much better yardsale experience. (It's not insulting to use the word "farmier" is it? The people of Milstadt were excellent and friendly and generous. But there was a definite rural overtone to the entire town. I think "farmy" is a fair word. Please feel free to discuss in the comments section.)

I can't possibly give you a play-by-play of the multitudinous Milstadt sales. There were too many. I can only give you some of the highlights:

Sam and Nick, Snack Masters, hosted a top-notch food stand. Their signs were lovely and clever; their fare was varied and delicious; their manner was confident and polite. I have no doubt they raked in the dough today. Personally, I purchased a bag of Cheetos and a large glass of lemonade. Both were excellent. Thank you, boys.

Then we met Cheryl, a Milstadt resident with an ingenious technique for yardsaling in such a densely marketed environment. She parked somewhere convenient and then walked sale-to-sale pulling a cart/cardboard box contraption for ease of transport. You never know what you will find, you see, so one must be prepared for the bulky, unwieldy items.

I must mention the bicycle. We found this custom-made bike and bought it for 15 dollars. I wanted it badly and had to sweet talk Laura into fitting it into the van. She is a very good sport. You may know I have 5 kids: boys 13, 12, 10, and 6 and one girl who is 8. This bike would be enjoyed by all of them. But how can they share? How can a bike belong to all? Bikes are on that short list with blankies, backpacks, and bowling balls... they are personal items that do not require sharing. I have decided to give this bike to the eldest because he currently has no bike. Also, he is graduating 8th grade and deserves a nice gift for that occasion. However, he is on a Boy Scout camp out this weekend so I am letting the younger siblings ride it before he returns.

Now a few words about children. They are so cute and sweet, right? And when they are well-fed and well-rested they are perfect angels. Here is Campbell with his many new stuffed animals. He is quite well-rested, well-fed, thankful, and happy:

Here is Hudson, also rested, fed, thankful, and happy, receiving a yellow Easter egg with coordinating crocheted chicken cover.

And here is Sawyer, probably thankful, probably fed, but unhappy and tired and therefore plugging his ears because the particular song on the radio at that moment is so offensive he cannot bear to listen to it:

Here is Sawyer two minutes later:

This proves my point.

Oh, Readers, there was so much more: the great tree house, the world's ugliest stuffed animal, the free Filipino cutting board... I will have to let Laura fill in the blanks.

Over and out.

Nancy