Somebody once gave me this book as a joke, but among the ridiculous stories, of course, there are some truths.

With money in your pocket, you are wise, handsome and you sing well, too.
                                                                                                                      --Yiddish proverb
No rich man is ugly. 
                                    --Zsa Zsa Gabor

I went to the Kenilworth Union Church rummage sale on Saturday in search of evidence to bear out the book title. What better place than a rummage sale in one of the wealthiest communities in the country? Sale shoppers know well-- a rummage sale is an anthropological dig into the economy of the community that hosts it. The north shore suburb of Kenilworth has been ranked among the wealthiest here, and city data shows the median price of a home in Kenilworth is $1,797,133(2008).

So what would you find in this wealthy community's discard pile?

Before we get to the gallery, I want to mention how beautifully green and serene the church and gardens are. One part of the sale took place in the Manse, a grand old house on the grounds.  In the library there, a nice woman leaned into me and said, "Are you Frugalista? I saw you taking pictures and thought you might be her."  She wasn't disappointed with what she found at the sale, though. She said her husband had made three trips to the car with purchases. 

Lots and lots of sales going on this weekend. If trains, cars and tchotchke are your thing, this Naragansset sale looks good.

The Milwaukee Ave Arts Festival starts tonight, which means the neighborhood can sell you a toaster for cheap and entertain you at the same time. Do a search of Craigslist sales for Logan Park, you'll find listings like this.

In my Purple Line neighborhood, the Secret Treasures Yard Sale runs Friday through Sunday.  For each day, fresh merchandise is added, so if you can't get there Friday, new things will be there on Saturday. Sunday is clean out the basement day.  Low prices.

I stopped by on Friday morning and have posted a few preview shots below.  You can find out more on the store's Facebook page.

Chicagoan Christopher Heitger is really good at design and thrifting.
His work with private clients, retail firms and the Chicago gallery Judy A Saslow shows his global talent. But at home, his knack for spotting and combining thrift scores shines a new light on his design skills. He's created a stylish, comfortable apartment on the lake in Rogers Park he shares with his partner, Joe Clauser, and their rescued standard poodles. 

Chrisopher's best tips for thrifting fans: Shop often. Go west. This framed cityscape was bought last weekend in a western burbs thrift store.  Price for this molded plastic 70's piece was $14.

Another tip can be gleaned from touring his apartment: don't limit yourself to one brand or period. Christopher buys what catches his eye, even if it appears homemade or of unknown origins.

My neighbor's sale over the weekend was as huge success. Our Lady of the Sofas got started at 6 am Saturday with coffee and homemade breakfast bars for anybody urgently needing a couch or two. Friends and church mates donated a ton of stuff--including 9 sofas-- for the sale to benefit an ed program at her parish.

The first sale happened at 6:30 am. Leaving to walk the dog, I thought I saw a happy customer leaving with an "I'll be back to pick up the stuff," wave as she headed for her car.  I misinterpreted that wave, because it signaled the start of a problem that by Sunday afternoon, became a brouhaha.

The early morning customer bought a couch, love seat, dresser, night table and lots of good miscellaneous. She paid in cash and said she'd be back in the afternoon with some muscle and a truck. Shoppers came and went, but she didn't. 

At the end of Saturday, when it looked like rain, we helped schlep the customer's couch, love seat etc back into my neighbor's house. The sigh of relief for having her living room back would have to wait. 

The buyer finally showed up with her husband and a truck on Sunday afternoon. As they started to load it, something happened and she changed her mind about every piece.  She decided she didn't want the furniture after all and asked for a refund. By that time, my neighbor had deposited the proceeds of the sale in the church bank account. She told the customer that any refund would have to be made by check on Monday.  And, she added for pure revenge, she'd have to make an appointment with the church's priest in order to get it. I haven't heard yet if the matter has been totally settled.

There are lots of lessons that can be an example for all of us as buyers and sellers at yard sales, but here's a few in short:

For buyers - pick it up when you say you will. Don't abuse the sellers by turning their space into your personal storage area.  

For sellers - don't let a pick-it-up-later buyer get away without taking down their contact info.  Set a deadline and policy for pickup and let the buyer know you're firm.

Chicago writer, Sharon Fiffer, likes shopping yard sales almost as much as the heroine of her books, Jane Wheel. Jane's a picker, like those two guys on the History channel show---she shops the secondhand market on behalf of clients. Both Jane and Sharon are drawn to bakelite buttons, old sewing kits and mostly the stories behind the things they find.

This weekend, Sharon's having what she calls a pocket-sized flea market, rummage sale and garage sale all rolled into one.  She's downsizing some of her collections of furniture, antiques, kitchenalia, bakelite, flower frogs, vintage American pottery, records, books, art, crafts. 

I stopped by her garage on Thursday to give you a preview of Sharon's sale. It's on for Friday, July 16 from 9-2 and Saturday, July 17, 10:30-2.  The sale starts later on Saturday, Sharon said, so she doesn't want to miss the St. Nick's sale. The address is 1319 Wesley in Evanston. 

Not to exclude any of the other Evanston sales this weekend, notably the small sales around St. Nick's, but here are three great sales taking place in Evanston on Saturday.

First is St. Nicholas Church sale, 806 Ridge, from 8 am to 3pm.  I usually go each year because everybody's on the same page at the sale  - make it fun.  There's usually a funky lamp selection next to the funky furniture department, a ton of dishware and books.  One year I admired the most charming old dollhouse.  Don't miss the tacos made by church members outside on the grill.

A half mile north is the garage sale of Sharon Fiffer, author of the Jane Wheel mysteries.  Jane is a picker who goes from estate sale to yard sale looking for select vintage items for her clients.  Suffice it to say that author, Sharon, has done a lot of research on behalf of her character.  She's selling much of it this Friday and Saturday.  See my preview photos in the next post.

A half mile north of Sharon's sale, in my neighborhood, is Annie's Alley Assets, 9 to 5 at 1115 Grove.  Anne had a sale last month, and here's the next installment. 

Many of the furniture items in the sale are from an unoccupied apartment and the rectory of a local church.  Mid century dressers, couches, side tables, desk.  Here's a preview:  

illustration courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeidenstein/

The minute this site went up, it was as if it's always been there. Definitely one of those "of course!" ideas you'll use a million times to find a big and bargain-full church rummage sale. A group of north shore churches have formed a site that lists the when and where of all the church sales on the north shore.

Here's a blurb about how it got started from Triblocal:
More than a dozen churches in Chicago's North Shore suburban communities have banded together to promote their annual rummage sales as a spring-through-fall season of opportunity for great bargains on antiques, clothing, furniture, house wares, toys and more.

Recognizing that people who love one church's rummage sale will want to know about others, sale organizers have launched a web site, www.northshorechicagorummage.com and a Facebook page with a calendar of sales in 2010.  Facebook users will find the sale calendar on the left-hand menu especially handy. 

Both sites will give you:

• links to church rummage web pages and Facebook
  
•  sale dates
  
• driving directions
• donation information
  

If you're a church sale chair, you can join to list your sale, too.  Go to the site to get in touch.
I've also added the link to the blogroll on the right-hand side of this site.

I for one can't imagine wearing a tribute to Toronto on a formal gown, and that's after changing it out from a tribute to Orvis, but the Queen obviously can. 

Recent fashion news from The Daily Mail.

She has described it as 'a very useful dress' - and The Queen proved the versatility of her favourite gown last night at a lavish banquet in Toronto.The gown, which was originally worn to a state dinner in Trinidad and Tobago last autumn, had been 'recycled' by the Queen's dresser and personal assistant Angela Kelly.

The dress, which had been decorated with the Caribbean country's national birds - the scarlet ibis and cocrico, was transformed with Swarovski crystals for last night's event.

The seamstresses removed the appliqué birds from the tulle lace, which is embroidered with sea pearls and sequins, and stitched dozens of crystals on to it instead.

As a tribute to Canada - one of the Queen's realms - the crystals formed maple leafs both large and small running up the dress's right sleeve and shoulder.

The interlocking leaves caught the light and were designed to be a bold statement at last night's dinner hosted by the Canadian government in honour of its Queen.

The dress was complemented by the sovereign wearing Queen Mary's dazzling tiara.

The 'recycling' of a previously worn gown by the Queen is something she has done before, and last night's spectacular 'maple gown' follows in a long tradition of themed diplomatic embroidery going right back to the 1953 coronation when the Queen had emblems of all her realms sewn into her dress.

The monarch has worn other gowns featuring significant symbols, colours or motifs but usually when on overseas tours and in honour of the country she is visiting. The monarch wowed Australians with her 'wattle dress' - featuring the national flower - which the Queen first wore on her 1954 tour to the country.

The Daily Mail also has a story about a green silk coat bought at a rummage sale for 10 pounds and believed to have once been Queen Elizabeth's.  The fun read is here.

This is turning out to be a good year for Lynne McDaniel and her Gage Park store, An Orange Moon.  The shop was just recognized by the Reader as the #1 VIntage Pop-up market in Chicago, and, on its one year anniversary, business is brisk---knock on teak.  Fans of mid century modern are finding their way to 59th and Western for the choice selection of Danish modern credenzas and 60's period pieces.  But an overnight success is rarely that.

Mostly, it's been a year of "scratching and digging deep to stay in business.  And then, when I needed it most, the design community was there for me,"  Lynne said.  Early on in the year, blogger Katherine Raz contacted Lynn and offered to talk her up on Back Garage, Raz's site about secondhand design that emphasizes mid century modern.  When customers became scarce, Larry Vodak, owner of Scout in Andersonville, would drive down for a buying trip.  And when Lynne was down to her last dollar, she drove to the store one morning and found Angela Finney-Hoffman, owner of Post27, waiting at the door to buy out the current inventory.  

Another piece of hard work is Lynne's creative style of marketing.
 
"WHERE ARE MY DESIGN STARS? MY DECORATORS? MY APARTMENT DWELLERS? COLLECTORS? DEALERS? " she wrote in an ad for a spring sale.  Weekends at the shop feature cold beverages and a long iPod playlist, incentives to stay awhile at the Gage Park design oasis. "There are virtually no art studios, antiques, good junk shops or consignment shops" in Gage Park right now, she writes on her web site.  One more incentive to make the trip are the surprise discounts, or  "in store special," which Lynne reveals after the fact on the store blog. She's named it The Cultural Psychologist, an indication there's more than just design eye candy there on 59th Street.

Lynne talks about growing up in Gage Park and being a part of a group whose parents would take them to museums, galleries and restaurants in the city and as role models for good etiquette.  Lynne's older sister dated a physician who would let Lynne tag along to his home in Marquette Park. When he drove them there,  the girls would duck down in the car so as not to be seen in the white neighborhood.  Recently, she and her husband, Ty, returned to the community from years in Humboldt Park.  They live in a historical bungalow not far from An Orange Moon.

Though she professes a love for all periods of design, Lynne notes the the best-sellers in the store are mid century credenzas, followed by teak dining room tables and chairs.  As I arrived at the store last weekend, a set was going out the door, sold to a woman and man in their late twenties.  Shortly after that, a researcher from UIC came in on her lunch hour.  While traffic is steady now, Lynne says she can't rest on her laurels. She and husband Ty have their eye on a spot in Pilsen to move the shop next year.  They'd like to be a little closer to the design vibe.  Until then, An Orange Moon will continue to cast a glow at 59th and Western.

Here's a glimpse of the design glow: