Please come back, Today at 1pm ET for the Live Chat! If you can’t make the live event, leave a question or comment on this article and Bruce will respond to you.
Hello Gatherers,
Bruce Littlefield is a New York based designer, writer, and restaurateur whom Publisher’s Weekly recently deemed America’s “design and lifestyle guru.” He’s the author of Airstream Living (Collins Design, 2005) and wrote the best-selling Use What You’ve Got with the “Queen of New York Real Estate,” Barbara Corcoran. Bruce has owned and created two successful restaurants in the Catskills, as well as a disco-themed Laundromat. His renovation of a 1940s farmhouse and bungalow colony (a la Dirty Dancing) done completely in garage sale finds has been featured in numerous magazines.
Garage Sale, Yard Sale, Tag Sale, Rummage Sale, Estate Sale, Barn Sale… they all mean one thing--BARGAINS--and America loves them. In GARAGE SALE AMERICA Bruce Littlefield takes you on a voyeuristic adventure into homes and lives across America to discover everything we love to buy, sell, and collect-one sale at a time.
Renting a truck and toting a sack full of a thousand crisp one-dollar bills, Littlefield hunts his way across America from the World’s Longest Yard Sale to the World’s Biggest Garage Sale-not to mention every barn sale, stoop sale, estate sale, and tag sale in between. Detailed photographs offer an in-depth look at a wide range of collectibles, while a wealth of first-person stories from garage salers and expert collectors offer insight to the art of the bargain-with loads of trade secrets thrown in for free. Littlefield also shows how to incorporate unique, must-have buys into every room in the home through a virtual walk-through tour of his 1940s farmhouse that he decorated with garage sale finds. A month-by-month guide to the best sales around the country and a garage sale glossary round out this entertaining volume that offers fun, sale smarts, and infectious enthusiasm on every page. A true find for beginning and experienced collectors at a great price
Bruce is looking forward to speaking with all of you today to discuss all things related to Garage Sales, Yard sales, and Tag sales!
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Click on the links below to read excerpts from Garage Sale America on Gather:
Do’s and Don’ts for Garage Sale Sellers and Buyers
Find the treasure before someone else does
See Bruce Live on the Weekend Today Show
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Comments: 142
Your book is more than just about yardsales, or room decorating, but a book that has a friend leading us on a fantastic voyage through time, and many memories I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I hope that many will pick it up and just sit down and take in all of the fantastic memories, and just sit back and smile for a while...
It is now 6:17 AM here and just wanted to let you know that if I was not here during the "formal live chat" that I will be here in thought.
I will try to be here in the next hour, but at 1 -3 PM on the East Coast it is 7 - 9 AM here and I have to go into Hilo to Aqua Therapy - so lots to do before I can get out of the house.
hope you make it and if not i wish you great treasures.
Bruce Littlefield on The Today Show, video of him, May 26 2007
make sure you don't ask for individual pricing on all those toys and clothes...
put everything aside, then ask for a group price, you'll get a better deal.. guaranteed!
If you saw something you liked on the Home Shopping Network that you wished you'd bought but didn't, most likely I did, and I'll be selling it on Saturday. Yard sale 8-3. Collectibles, furniture, tools, all sorts of bargains. Early birds welcome.
i've seen men fight in the pouring rain over tools.. and just last weekend a woman almost fought me for the cat phone.
yes, definitely an extreme sport... extreme weather, extreme passion, extreme excitement, extreme desire... and lots of cheering fans!
I love your cabin! I have "cabin envy"!
have the fishing lures in a glass cabinet in my office... i actually used one (without hooks, just a whirligig) as a pendant on a necklace.. people love that.
thanks for the compliment... yes, i'd "consider" having my own television show! what fun! i may be making a few more morning appearances over the summer... shhh. our little secret.
Moggie, I would use his fishing lures as Christmas ornaments!
like bargain.
In the book GARAGE SALE AMERICA I define it as "something you didn't know you needed at a price you couldn't resist."
that's correct, right?
LOVE LOVE LOVE that idea... now, you've given me something to do!!! LOVE it... great idea... will do one this christmas... that's for sure!
fiesta ware... i see that a lot in the catskills... and also have seen at estate sales... people who collected it over the years selling it off... you can search on my website, garagesaleamerica.com by items... in case someone is listing that somewhere in another state... you could call them and ask about it. but if you're going to estate or tag sales you have to get there EARLY... VERY EARLY.
Now, I really must go......
Happy Hunting!
Thanks Bruce!
I'm sorry I missed your question but I just looked back up and saw it! Thanks for thinking of me for my own tv show!!! want to produce? tee hee. in new york city, i've found some INCREDIBLE finds while dumpster diving. i found an old stainless steel hot dog cart that is my media center in my city apartment. holds tv, dvd player, stereo... etc. could never replace it!!!
found it on the street by a dumpster and wheeled it for 15 blocks home.. what a site!!!
disco themed laundromat was in the catskills.. in rosendale, new york... it was amazing... and actually was dropped into my lap... when i bought a building i didn't know that the person running the laundromat hadn't paid her rent in 5 months... so, i took it over, made it nice... we did "desperate housewives nights" and that kind of thing.. it was SO FUN... and of course, i'd pop in with some bubbly every now and then... sold it two years ago.
the today show works like clockwork.. they are the best in the business... from the moment you arrive, and you're taken into the "green room" (the holding spot until you're sent to hair and makeup) until they send you in a chauffeured car home, it's a great experience. the gorgeous amy robach interviewed me... and we had a ball. she forgave me for saying if she wanted a good deal, she better not where those shoes... the cameras caught her perfectly pedicured feet and her gorgeous (obviously expensive) shoes... i said one of my best tips. "the finer the stitch, the higher the price." never wear expensive things or drive up in an expensive car to a yard sale... you're asking to pay more!
yes, i've also owned and designed two restaurants. how that came about was that i did a book with barbara corcoran, the queen of real estate.. you may have seen her on today show, etc. our book USE WHAT YOU'VE GOT and other business lessons i learned from my mom... was a bestseller, i had some money in my pocket and went with her advice (from the book) that if you see an opportunity... go for it... don't wait for a committtee to tell you whether or not you should do something.
though the restaurants were a great success... the business is SO HARD!!!!! i never knew that when i was a waiter... but it's hard being a restaurant owner. too many variables... and staffing is hard... but i'm certainly glad i did it.
if i had a group of items that were priced $50 all together... i wouldn't make the first offer... i would ask, "how much is all this?" then when they name the price, say, "could you take x" (but don't be insultingly low... if you name more than half their price, you're insulting them.) then, if it's still too high... start taking things away from the pile to get the price lower... eventually the seller will say, you can have it for your price. or, most important rule, be prepared to walk away!
I see that you wrote a book called "Airstream Living"--do you live in an airstream? I'd be really interested in hearing about what that's like.
Thanks
by the way... nice home makeovers.
From the cable channels.
:-)
yes, antonia c... i suppose i'm a packrat... i do buy things for people when i see something that reminds me of them... then, put it in a place i can't remember... for example, got this great necklace at a sale for $2 for my friend michelle... amazing necklace... worth probably a couple hundred bucks... i can't find it anywhere... turned my house upside down!!! but i will find it eventually.
Hey Bruce! Don't mind me asking if you are you the same person doing those home make overs?...
Bruce Littlefield on The Today Show, video of him, May 26 2007
and patrick.. thanks for figuring that out... that kind of stuff confuses me.
sounds great... and, yes, i ahve done home makeovers, but i'm not sure which person you mean... i'm not ty pennington from abc, which people have asked me before, if that's who you mean!
sounds great... and, yes, i ahve done home makeovers, but i'm not sure which person you mean... i'm not ty pennington from abc, which people have asked me before, if that's who you mean!
good question... i'm finishing another book, so won't be able to read for a while.. but i have amy sedaris's entertaining book, which i can't wait to read... she's hilarious. and i'll probably grab some old erma bombeck to take to the beach... and i'll also catch up on this GIANT PILE of magazines that i love, but haven't had time to get to!
finishing another book, meaning i'm writing another book... on major deadline!
I just wanted to comment that your book will make a great Christmas present for garage sale fanatics. It would be nice to sit curled up by the fire and dream about finding that treasure as soon as spring arrives again! The photo's are awesome and I really enjoyed the little definitions and personal stories about people you met along the way. I think you have to be a real "people person" to enjoy garage saling!
To stay on the Hot Dog cart theme....
I think its important to look at things how you might use them, instead of what they were built to do. Would you like to comment on that?
My father grew up in the depression, as did most of my relatives.....I was born waaaay late to old folks, btw ;-) Anyway, they always found alternate uses for things.....i.e. claw foot bathtubs went out of style, so they used them on the farm for water troughs for the cows...
Anyway, to get to the point....... He would always look for the functional use of things....versus purely decorative things. Example: we had an old TV (yes, the round kind of tube, black and white) in a good cabinet. He took the tube, etc. out, and made the cabinet into a tool cart for the garage.....albeit a nice tool cart ;-) Now my dad is a gr8 guy, but absolutely no sense of style....he didn't get the gene. So with me, I learned how to stand things up on their head, so to speak, to come up with something completely different (like you hot dog cart). Then, when done, everybody goes: "Wow, what a clever idea!" So, the question? How do you teach folks to look at things differently? To re-use.....To Design...
:-)
How about if the sellers are cold or harsh, do you try to get that extra buck off whatever you are buying?
And finally, how do you find the time to go to so many wonderful yard sales?
next book is "MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICA"... i traveled the country looking at how people go all out with what i call full-frontal decorating.
i will always pay more if someone is nice... no matter if it's a car dealer or a garage sale seller.
if they are cold or harsh, my boots are made for walking.
i try to go garage saling... at least a stop or two... EVERY WEEKEND.. it's what i do to relax.
i will always pay more if someone is nice... no matter if it's a car dealer or a garage sale seller.
if they are cold or harsh, my boots are made for walking.
i try to go garage saling... at least a stop or two... EVERY WEEKEND.. it's what i do to relax.
love that claw foot tub as a cow trough... i used a tub one time FILLED WITH ICE and beer for a fourth of july party...
i approach every garage sale table with the idea: WHAT CAN THAT THING DO FOR ME... like the oil can i showed on the today show... at 2 bucks it's the coolest vase i can imagine... or i'll use an old minnow bucket for a trashcan...
i think thinking creatively is part of the fun...
like the fishing lures idea mentioned earliers.. as great christmas ornaments... i'll do that this year on one of my little aluminum trees.
yep.. barb did today show this morning.. she's one of my favorite friends and the nicest of people... she's getting her own show on CNBC... you'll love her and she'll tell you how to improve your financial status and feel good about it! the book i did with her is so special... she was raised in a household of 10 kids, without a lot of money... her mother had to run her house well. that's how barbara ran her real estate business.. and we tell the story in the book of how she turned $1000 a boyfriend loaned her into her BILLION DOLLAR business.!!!!!!!!