Sunday, August 21, 2011

Cash and Cari

I had a chance to get away for a weekend with my husband and accompany him on a business trip.
Knowing I would have some free time Saturday morning, I decided to do a search on the
internet for estate sales in the area.

TIP - To find estate sales using a search by zip code use: http://www.estatesales.net/

I found many sales with in a 30 mile radius, but one was only 9 miles away from our hotel.

The Estate Sale listing had many pictures of vintage hats and a beautiful collection of antique hand mirrors. All perfect additions for my vintage boutique, Flair.

When I looked up the details on the Estate Sale I discovered the sale was to be filmed for the HGTV television show Cash and Cari. For those of you who haven’t yet seen Cash and Cari, the show follows host Cari Hucksey and her team on what it’s like to run an Estate Sale. Having watched the show on TV, I thought it would be fun to get a behind the scenes look at the show.


When I arrived at the estate sale there was a long line to get in. I anxiously waited in line over the next half an hour, keeping my fingers crossed that any of the vintage hats and hand mirrors would be left .

 Most of the hats were gone, everyone must have been inspired by the Royal Wedding . This is what happens when you arrive at an estate sale on the second day. However, not all was lost. I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice collection of vintage hand mirrors left. It was impossible to pick out just one or two, I finally decided on six. Knowing this was the second day of the sale, I knew I could bargain for a better price. I asked one of the Re-Purpose staff , what the best price would be if I purchased six of the mirrors, she offered a price of $75.00 . I then countered with a price of $ 60.00. She said she had to check with her boss. I was starting to wonder where she went when she appeared back with a camera crew. The show’s producer asked me if she could film our “bartering” of the hand mirrors with Cari’s apprentice. With much apprehension, she informed  me there was a problem. Not only could she not accept my offer of
$ 60.00, she had to notify me the best price they could do was $100.00 for all of them. I could tell she was mortified, and felt bad for the young apprentice. She nor the show’s producers had no idea she was bartering with a professional antique dealer. I agreed to the $100.00 .

The Cash and Cari camera crew filming me with my new collection of hand mirrors.




Watch the video of Antique Living blogger,
Angelic Esser interviewed by
HGTV show Cash and Cari.



Not only was this such a fun experience to be part of the HGTV show Cash and Cari , this was a
great estate sale full of treasures. I attend many estate sales, some good and some not so good.
I have to say, this was probably one of the best run estate sales I have been to. Cari and the Re-Purpose Estate Services team was professional, cheerful and very helpful. The prices were fair and they were willing to bargain with you. Most of all they create a fun atmosphere that's makes you want to come back to another estate sale.










Sunday, March 20, 2011

Spring Fever

With winter now officially over, I cant wait to get my hands dirty this Spring.  I look forward to planting the vegetable garden, working in the flower beds and planting the annual flowers. Just in case you need a little motivation, here are some pictures I snapped during the Garden Tour at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island
last summer.

    For well more than a century, the legendary Grand Hotel gardens have provided beautiful (and oftentimes fragrant) visual enhancement of the guest experience. Century-old lilac, white cedar and maple trees serve as dramatic structure, while perennials and annuals by the tens of thousands provide abundant bursts of color throughout the Grand Hotel season, thanks to the ideal climate of a Mackinac summer. During any one visit, guests can see over 150 varieties of flowers, including geranium, rose, peony, coleus, garden heliotrope, cosmos, lily, daisy, and begonia.
-text from the Grand Hotel Website. http://www.grandhotel.com/