Four Drawers: They sat in the hallway of my apartment building during a recent renovation of a unit (they were built circa 1920's)....at the time I could not figure out what to do with them...

Then of course I saw on another forum where they can be painted and used for shelves!!!! DARN IT!!

That's happened too many times to me - I can't even count. Now --- I buy first- think later . If I don't use it - that gives me an excuse for a rummage sale !

Lost a buy on a mint condition living room set.The painter bought it before I arrived.Managed to buy an entire bedroom suite,all real wood furniture(some inlay) and all the art work in the room,plus a very large set of glass ware.The art alone was worth the purchase price.
Lost out on some roadfinds.A cuppola style very large birdhouse,and two laquer oriental chairs cause I was in a hurry and thought they would be there later.Also a wrought iron chaise lounge that was next door to a clients house.I wanted it soo bad,but don't have enough nerve to curb in front of people I work for.

I saw two wonderful iron chairs on a trailer going to the salvage yard along with some old fridges, etc. I was with my husband and on our way to Houston for a doctor appt. and running late, so I didn't even ask him to stop and see if we could get them. Have grieved for them ever since.

Update on "my" birdcage - went into the shop yesterday and there the cage set, with an "$85.00 - Firm" sign hanging from it! Grrrr..... LOL

Had the same thing happen to me. I was at the flea market, and saw a pair of cast iron ducks...$20. They were life sized....soooooo coool. I didn't have $20 but first thing the next week, I went back, money in hand...gone. Several weeks later, in a shop, just looking...there they were, and they were also $85.

Doesn't that just kill ya, Marilyn? Twinkie asked me what she had done to the birdcage. I told him she hadn't even wiped off the iron part! LOL

I have a set of black cast iron cats that are andirons. Got them at an auction for eight or nine dollars, don't remember which. Don't even have a fireplace that I can use them in, but have used them to hold books, magazines, etc. They're some of my favorite things.

Hate that your ducks "flew away"!

des arc ya ya. what does that name mean anyway? did you ever get a birdcage? no. i don't have one to offer. think they look fine with a flower pot inside. birds should be free. my name came about cause i'm on my knees alot in the dirt fixing and repairing and vegetable gardening.

Ya Ya...I have a pair of hound dog andirons. I've seen the cats and also some owls. I don't have a fireplace either, but
I couldn't pass up the andirons.

Des Arc is the name of my hometown. Ya Ya is for the group of women who went to school with me and are still lifelong friends of mine. We call ourselves "the Ya Yas".

Couldn't believe when I looked and this old post had resurfaced!

Oh, by the way, the $85.00 birdcage that I originally posted about did not stay in the store for ANY time and must have sold for that price. Sheesh!

My buddy told me she went to the flea market today and bought a wrought iron bird cage for $3. We have sort of a friendly competition going on to see who can collect the most wrought iron bird cages. She's winning. I only have two and she has 3 or 4, plus some others that are very unique.

Des- I posted a while back so annoyed about a cabinet. DH insisted we go empty the van. When we came back it was gone. Stupid neighbors were watching me look at the cabinet. When we came back the cabinet and the neighbors were GONE!!! I should have stayed with it. The cabinet had been sitting there for two weeks. I was so mad. So I really feel for you. But there will be other treasures!!!

My "one that got away" story just keeps growing each time I tell it..... Kinda like the "fish was tthhiiss big" story.... :)

My story isn't about the one that got away, but the one that suckered me.

At an indoor flea market out of town and I spy a couple of duck decoys, all grungy and perfect for a spot in my garden. I quickly gather them up and the guy charges me $2/each. I wander down a few more booths proudly carrying my ducks and the little old lady at this one booth asks me if I bought them from that other booth. Yes, I reply, giddy with excitement thinking she's lamenting the 'ones that got away'. Then she tells me she'd just sold them to that guy about an hour earlier for two bits a piece. Sigh.

Well I had this treasure and LET it get away from me... Found a oak, mission, parsons, reclining chair with intact leather cushions. Started cleaning it up and got derailed (I was in college at the time) After letting it sit around the room for months, I just gave it away. I could kick myself EVERYTIME I think about it.....

I'm new here and this is a great thread to start with! We've all got something that got away, haven't we, cause if you junque shop you're going to have. My most recent was a 1920's vintage vanity/dresser with a big mirror sitting in the driveway at a garage sale with a sold sign on it. I asked what he had sold it for and it was way less than I would have paid and about 1/4 what it would be in an antique shop. In perfect condition - he had refinished it himself beautifully. I'm still hoping for another one to come my way. LOL
Katie

LOL Pesky!! We had a lady do the same thing to us over some moving reindeer. She had just brought them in and told my dh they didn't work. He took them over to the plug and fussed with them and got them working again. She snuck off and he just shrugged his shoulders. I thought it was pretty funny. So we made up for your episode!!!

One that I will always regret...I went in a junk shop and they had a Mission oak looking bed, except the headboard and the footboard rolled over slightly like a sleigh bed. It was $200. I had the money in my pocket, but I had no place to put it. The next day, I was watching the Price is Right on tv and one of the items was a reproduction of the bed, and the reproduction was $1800. I was thinking what an idiot I was...I should have bought the bed even if I had to lean it against a wall in the livingroom!! I jumped in my car, and drove the 15 miles back over there, and it was gone. So, never again will I hesitate when I see something that is really nice and a good buy. Even if I don't have any place to put it. I will "buy now" and "work out details" later. (That said, I have two antique kitchen cupboards standing in the middle of my kitchen/dining room.
I have to walk around them to do everything, but eventually we will get to the work we need to do, and I will move them in place. I saw them and I couldn't pass them up.)

I'm still in mourning over a walnut Paul McCobb dresser that died almost in front of me about a month ago...neighbors' kid had an estate sale, dumped everything that didn't move at the head of the drive.

I managed to rescue a fireplace set (the screen needs new mesh, but it's got wonderful lines) a stack of paintings, a wire mesh chair that's the same pattern as a Bertoia, though a different shape, and a really cool trunk with a really bad old faux-colonial tole painted surface that's going to be my spring project...

can't win them all, I suppose.

I saw a camel back sofa at the thrift store for $40. The upholstery was ratty and dirty, but the shape and structure was wonderful. I went home and kept thinking about how it just needed to be reupholstered and would be fantastic. Went back the next day and it was gone. I was sad.

My "haunter" is an old tin-type photo, framed and in wonderful condition. It was at an auction and the other bidder wasn't about to back off. So, I did my job and made sure she had to pay plenty for it.
It was of a farming family. They were in the foreground and their farm and farm hands were silhouetted in the background.
To me it seemed like a beautiful, one of a kind, masterpiece.
If I ever see it again, its coming home with me.

Once though, when we were passing through Missouri, I spotted a print in an antique store. At the time I thought it was just too cute, but I left it there, and it haunted me for weeks. Several months later, we stopped at that same store and it was still there waiting for me. I think I was very lucky that time.

Jan

An old oak toy box. I went back to get it today and someone else had gotten it! I was soooo disappointed!

Jessie

Several months ago when I was out on my morning walk I saw an old enamel top kitchen table, rather like this one but original legs and more substantial, just sitting in the alley.

I didn't have time before work to come back and get it, and had to work till nearly midnight that night. But having thought about it all day, I got up early the next morning and drove back, only to find it was gone -- temporarily.

Saw it a few weeks later in a local "Junque" store -- for $325. Not the first thing I've let slip to that guy, and I'm sure it won't be the last, but I still think about that table and what a perfect "summer kitchen" item it would have been!

Awww...Alison! I'd STILL be sick! LOL

Alison I have a table like that!
I rescued it from some cabins that were about
to be bulldosed. I got a bunch of things from
those cabins. With permission. There was one
cabin that was still locked and I couldn't go in.
It had loads of treasures-one being an old fridge
with the coil on top.
This was in Indiana where we have a cabin. We
came home and a few days before we went back,
they bulldosed and burned everything inside.
It was still smoking when we got there.
I was just 'sick' thinking about it! I have never
let them forget that fridge.

Saw the garbage men take a perfectly good armoire from the curb, put it in the compacter and squash it before my very eyes. Ouch!!! I didn't have room for it, but I would have taken the trouble to drop it off at the thrift store so someone else could enjoy it.

Saw a 6 foot locking , plastic two door shed on the curb. Drove home to empty the van so I would have room. When I returned (5 minutes later) someone else was loading it into THEIR truck. Agghhh!!!

Saw a 20 gallon aquarium with a wrought iron stand (with all the accessories) at a yard sale marked $10.00. When I said I'd have to consult with DH, they said I could HAVE it just so they wouldn't have to haul it back in the garage. I regret not taking it as I have a few fish now.

Word to the wise when going to yard sales. If you find a dresser and don't want to worry about someone else buying it first, take one of the drawers out, go pay for it (get a written receipt) and take the drawer(s) with you. Especially if you don't have room in your vehicle and have to arrange with someone else to come pick it up for you.

This is "large item" spring garbage pick up time in Cape Breton. My family thinks I am embarressing, but I drive VERY slowly this time of year and find great chairs, desks etc...anyone else go garbage hunting?