Top Design Contestants Scour Garage Sales
"Top Design" finds the remaining eight contestants scouring nearby garage sales for new and mostly used pieces to help them create the next "Top Design," airing Wednesday, February 21 at 10 P.M. ET/PT. Every talented interior designer must have an "eye for design, " especially when their interior design choices are limited by a small budget and garage sale items.The fourth episode of Bravo's "Top Design" entitled "One Man's Trash," premiering on Wednesday, February 21 at 10 P.M. ET/PT, will test the eye of each of the remaining eight contestants. They must create a living and work space for their clients, who are all design students, using yard sale materials.
Special guest judge Joe Stewart (production designer) will join host Todd Oldham ("Top Design" host, designer) -- as judges Jonathan Adler ("Top Design" lead judge, interior designer), Margaret Russell ("Top Design" judge, editor-in-chief of ELLE DECOR Magazine) and Kelly Wearstler ("Top Design" judge, interior designer), decide who has created the "Top Design," and who will be sent home.
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Sharon Osbourne to Hold Garage Sale
Rock matriarch Sharon Osbourne is cleaning house and selling all of her unwanted items this weekend in West Hollywood, Calif.The sale will take place on Saturday and Sunday and the $10 entrance fee will benefit The Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
According to an e-mail invitation, "Sharon Osbourne is cleaning house and is holding a sale of her fabulous designer clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories.
"Most items are brand new, complete with tags!"
The sale will feature pieces from designers including Dolce & Gabbana, Chloe, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton, among others.
The clothing ranges in size from a tiny 2 to size 10.
A sale so simple, a child could do it
Last summer, our neighborhood had a community garage sale. As we gathered, our once-loved trinkets in the driveway, our 4-year-old son, Robbie, became intrigued. He wanted to sell some of his items, too. So we made a little pact with him: If he sold some of his old toys, he could use the money toward the new “big-boy” car seat he had wanted for quite some time.As the potential customers walked along the sidewalk, my son walked along with them. “Do you have kids? Would you like to look at my toys?” Robbie asked the passersby. His eagerness and enthusiasm made many trade show salespeople look like amateurs.
After trying his charm with three people, one kind lady took the bait. Robbie escorted her to his toy table. With his arms behind his back, he proudly watched her look over his toys. Finally, the woman picked up his plastic piggy bank, priced at 50 cents. After looking it over, she calmly placed it back on the table. “You have very nice toys,” she told Robbie as she began to walk away.
Without hesitation, Robbie asked, “Do you like my piggy bank?” “It's very nice,” the woman said as she continued to move on. Robbie followed her. “Would you like to buy it?” he asked. She looked down and smiled at the short little man. “No, thank you,” she replied.
“Do you already have a piggy bank?” Robbie asked curiously. The lady cocked her head, “Well, no.” “Well then, you should buy mine,” Robbie said, confidently handing her the 50-cent bank.
With the bank in her hand and a smile on her face, the lady reached into her purse and handed the 4-year-old salesman two quarters. Robbie happily put the coins in the cash box, thanked the nice lady and returned to the sidewalk to talk to the next stranger.
Garage Sale Gal to teach MCC class
Barbara Thelander needed an idea to take to the table for her upcoming meeting. While reading The Arizona Republic one morning it came to her."I thought, this is a person we should have teaching for us. You are so informed and your columns always have tips that make good, common sense," she told me during a recent phone conversation.
Barbara is the director of Community and Continuing Education for Mesa Community College. She was reading one of my columns on garage sales when she got the idea for me to pass along some of my garage sale expertise to students.
That's right! The Garage Sale Gal - that's me - will be teaching a non-credit course this spring on selling stuff and buying bargains at garage sales. Now, you might be thinking, it's a garage sale, how hard can it be? You put some stuff in the driveway and sell it, right?
Well, true. But there are some things you can learn that'll help you better maximize your garage sale skills. I'll be giving tips on topics such as how to negotiate for a good price - whether you're buying or selling, which day is the best day to hold a garage sale (and this may surprise you!) and what simple "tool" can make or break your sale.
Terri Sparks is also with community education at MCC, and she says we just can't ignore the popularity of garage sales in the Valley.
"Everywhere you go you see garage sales. So, why not learn how to buy and sell effectively. I believe there's an art to it and I think (Lynda) can help us convey that."
Garage Sale Gal: Buy what you love
Valentine's Day is just around the corner and it got me to thinking about love. Not the deep-down love we feel for our spouse, child, friend or pet, but the love of superficial things.I have a rule when it comes to shopping at garage sales: Buy only what I love. Problem is I've broken that rule a few times. OK, I've broken it a lot!
I have a hard time passing up a bargain even if I don't adore it. For instance, who can pass up two brand new lampshades still wrapped in plastic for just 50 cents? I can always use a lampshade, even though I haven't yet. I also rescue things from certain death. I forked over $1 for an old, yellow tabletoprotary dial phone. I couldn't bear to see it go into the trash. So now it's sitting silently, disconnected in my office gathering dust instead of at the bottom of the landfill.
Then there are times when I buy something because I just can't look away, let alone walk away. It was a hot, summer day in Gilbert when I saw it lying helplessly in a garage sale. Some people might consider it tacky, but sometimes tacky is good. It was an incredible, large, hanging Mediterranean-looking, oil lamp - the kind you might have seen in an Italian restaurant in the 1970s, where the decor was lovably gaudy but comforting as you chowed down on your spaghetti with meat sauce.
It now hangs in my parents' Arizona room. This is just one of the many things I've bought but don't need. So I've been trying to figure out how I can curb my enthusiasm for all things unusual and inexpensive.
I saw some advice on the Internet that suggests we should "avoid impulse buying" at garage sales. But isn't that what garage sales are all about? When I'm walking up to a sale, I know I don't need anything. I'm usually not shopping for any one thing in particular. That tip doesn't help me.