1952 Large and In Charge House

We attended the first estate sale in the downstairs at this breathtaking Piedmont, California home in August of 2014. And again in the upstairs public rooms in April of 2015. To my understanding the owners at the times of the estate sales bought the home furnished from the original owners. They sold the fantastic original furnishings, did some light remodeling and put it back on the market for a nice 2 million. During the times between August 2014 and April 2015 we stumbled across a craigslist ad for a downstairs apartment for rent. Oh lordy! It was the fabulous downstairs of this house! Our excitement was quickly diminished by the outrageous rent. But gee, how nice it would have been to have that glamorous bar in our living room!

You better click below to see the MANY MORE PHOTOS!

1958 Mid Century Modern Then and Now

 Piedmont, CA

We attended this estate sale in 2012.

One of the most memorable sales! This house is located in the affluent Piedmont hills. The house was in amazingly pristine condition. It was so clean! And there were lots of fantastic things for sale too! I think we went back everyday they were open and kept on buying cool things. We even went back the day after the last day of the sale and to our luck they had put lots of stuff out on the curb for the garbage! We rummaged through the pile and got a ton of old 78's, some vintage ephemera and all of their amazing Kodachrome slides! Those slides are my favorite things I got from this house because they were mostly from the 60s and many of them were taken at the house so I was able to create this awesome before and after post of this stunning home!

1954 Wood Paneled House Before and After

Oakland, CA

We attended this estate sale in March 2012.

When we attended this estate sale we over heard the people running it that the real estate agent was going to paint all the beautiful warm wood in this house. A man reacted in disgust (as did we) except he voiced his opinion to leave it all alone. He said there will be plenty of people who will love all the wood in this house. And we think he is right. Wood adds such coziness and character to a room, and if its Mid Century wood paneling it adds a sophisticated look as well. But alas we checked the real estate listing and surprise, surprise all the wood was painted awful white. Now, we do admit that the house needed to be freshened up. It was looking a bit tired looking in our photos at the sale, but slapping on some cheap latex white paint on gorgeous wood is not the answer.

1956 Hillside Ranch

San Leandro, CA (Bay-O-Vista Neighborhood)

We attended this estate sale in July 2013.

The Bay-O-Vista neighborhood never disappoints! This neighborhood has so many amazing Mid Century homes, most of them incredibly intact. And this neighborhood has a great track record for killer estate sales! We can safely say this was a great day! This house was massive. It doesn't look like it from the street, but it sits on a hill and there is lots of room on this lot. There was a bar downstairs with original streaky tan asphalt tile (Yummy), an indoor swimming pool, upstairs there was a family room with gorgeous Mid Century fireplace with BBQ... there is just too much to list, go check out the rest of the photos and see for yourself!

1946 Modern Sophisticate House

Oakland, CA (Montclair Area)

We attended this estate sale in June 2014.

So, our landlady called me this past Saturday asking if I could swing by this estate sale and help her load up a set of vintage rattan furniture that she scored a great deal on. I was just excited to see the furniture she bought, I didnt know my heart was going to be stolen by this house! Both Jake and I really want this house! But, it was a little difficult getting to this house. Saturday, I came at the end of the day to load the furniture, took a super fast look around, not even seeing some of the greatest parts of the house. Sunday was Fathers day and my parents were in town and I had to go to work. By Monday, I figured it was over, but I said to myself, what the heck, I will check craigslist, and sure enough the sale was still going on Monday! So I finally got to tour this fabulous house and buy a little something too!

1945 Spanish Ranch Styled House

Oakland, CA

We attended this estate sale back in January 2013.

What a delight this house was! It is located in an affluent part of the Oakland hills with gorgeous older homes. We didnt expect to find any good deals but we did come home with a couple of nick-knacks and also great remorse for not getting there earlier. There was a spectacular 1950s gem just waiting for us, but unfortunately someone beat us to it and bought it already. Read more to find out and see pictures of what we missed out on. Anyway, this house had some extraordinary intact rooms, even after the house was spruced up to be sold on the market. I am very proud of them for keeping this house intact! All in all, it was a fun day full of eye candy!

1951 Mid Century Modern Home

 Piedmont, CA

We did not actually attend an estate sale at this house, or take these photos ourselves, but instead we stumbled upon this ultra fabulous house on zillow.com. This was back in 2013 and the house has since been sold. We saved the pictures from the listing because we just had to share this ultra spectacular 1951 Mid Century marvel! This house is just a stunner! The kitchen and living room are the prizewinners in this home, unbelievably original! SO BEAUTIFUL!

Time Capsule Snippet

Ripon, CA

Here is another time capsule snippet, (a quick view of a time capsule home). This estate sale was held in October of 2009, it was another very large and busy one. Lots of people to get in my way of my photos! But anyway, This house was just on the outside of town, it had a large piece of land and several out buildings. The main house looked to be built sometime in the 1940s with some funky design choices throughout the decades.

Click below for photos.

1953 Storybook Ranch

Attended this estate sale November 2009.

Modesto, CA

First off, I want to say that I have some conflicting information about this house. While I was there at the estate sale, the ladys that were running it told me that this house has had only one owner. They said that they built it in 1946, BUT I did a search on Zillow.com of this house and they said it was built in 1953. A lot of the design choices in the house seem more like 1953, so I myself want to say it was in fact built in 1953. There might be some parts of the house that were started in 1946, but I really cant say for sure. All I can say that this house was like a DREAM! So over the top mid century decorating! I loved it! See for yourself!

Time Capsule Snippet

Oakland, CA

This estate sale was held in March of 2011. The house was fantastic and oh so original. It was built in 1948. However, it was a very busy and crowded one with not so friendly staff running the sale, so therefore I call this post a Time Capsule Snippet because of the lack of photos that I was able to take at the sale. We were able to get some goodies from here, except for some awesome geometric barkcloth curtains that were hanging in one of the bedrooms. I asked a staff person if they were for sale and he sternly said "NO!!!" I have asked to purchase curtains off the windows before and usually the staff is polite about it, but this guy was so rude. He did not have to act that way toward me.

This last photo of the immaculate bathroom was not taken by me. I stumbled upon it while this house was on the market. The other photos that were included along with this one showed the freshly remodeled interior.... All of that beautiful exposed wood was painted beige, all light fixtures were replaced with Home Depot specials: brass dome lights, and that cool brown asphalt tile was covered with beige carpet. I say boo. Needless to say those barkcloth curtains I wanted to buy went in the trash. Another time capsule bites the dust.

1927 Tudor

Oakland, CA

We attended this sale in November 2011. This house had so many really neat original details as well as 1940s and 50s details. There were wonderful 40s window treatments including venetian blinds (We like to call them "shades with tape"). There was an incredible 20s bathroom with lavender tile and there was also a finished attic completed in the early 1950s I would say with a great wagon wheel chandelier. And as for the items for sale, there was tons of cheap old stuff! We got so many great things including amazing 30s wallpaper, which the cashier promptly gave me that confused glare wondering why in the world I was wanting all this brittle old wallpaper for. Actually now that I think about it I got tons of vintage paper all around from postcards to photographs to pamphlets. And I was there two days in a row digging this stuff out. But I dont care how many people think Im crazy. Im getting these fantastic vintage items and saving history from going in the trash. I love it!

1952 Stinky House

 Modesto, CA

I attended this one back in November 2009. This was a very tiny house built in 1952. It was also a bit smelly and very worn. It was not in the best of shape but it was complete! So much original details still remained! When looking at the ad in the newspaper for the sale, I noticed it was not in the best part of town. But I went anyway, and boy was I glad! The interior has so many goodies, both for sale and those that were attached to the house like stained wood ceilings, mid century room divider awesome kitchen and neat wallpaper. This was one of those sales where I bought so much stuff! One of my favorite finds was a huge stack of decorating magazines from the 1950s. Unfortunately my partner Jake was unable to come with me to this one, he still gets on to me for going without him to this one!