Have you ever seen someone so happy in their entire life?

I can’t help it.

I live in the best yard sale shopping town I’ve ever met and those yard sale signs are everywhere right now.

My two favorite times of the year? When Santa comes down the chimney and multi-family neon-colored yard sale signs show up on the street corner. And along the way I have found the BEST stuff. Amazing things. One-of-a-kind things. Things that I can’t even believe someone would put out on their curb for $21.45.

Truly.

So today I thought it might be fun to go all Casey Kasem and rank them in order.

You know. 

Starting with number 10 (which I love) all the way to number one (which I still can’t even believe).

And just like Flock of Seagull bangs?

Yard sale finds never disappoint.

Here’s what I found (and even better) what I did with them.

Let’s GO.

10. 40 pane window

Technically, I didn’t find this at a yard sale. I found it in the trash.

But I’m counting it because in Kentucky? Sometimes the trash is waaaaay better than a yard sale.

This was a broken and torn up forty pane window.

The story of how it came home with me made my very first book.

It was cleaned up and brushed off and then turned into this project that was featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

From the side of the road to newstands everywhere. It’s the luckiest broken window ever.

9. This seed packet dispenser

I found this under a stack of Tupperware at a yard sale.

The metal edge was sticking out and I didn’t know what it was.

But I knew it was perfect no matter what it was.

I brought it home and used it to organize my gift wrap tags.

Read its story and more gift wrap organizing tips here.

8. This flower basket

Sometimes when you go shopping you don’t find anything.

Truth? Sometimes it’s lame.

Sometimes all those hand-lettered poster board signs lead to nowhere.

Shhhh.

Don’t focus on that.

But sometimes on a Saturday when the sun is shining and you discover a treasure trove of giant $1 baskets and stacks of vintage books and the cutest herb planters and something so amazing and incredible that it makes you want to pull out dance moves from a Go-go’s song.

And then you find a flower basket and turn it into this.

7. This flower farm sign

I can’t even remember where I got this, it’s been so long.

I found it all those years ago in Kentucky (which has AMAZING yard sales) and I’ve never seen a sign like it since.

Some long-ago flower farm made a sign for strawberry and flower pickers and I’m so thankful that they did.

Now it hangs on the wall near the entrance to the laundry room.

6. This vintage dresser

This is a beautiful dresser.

But that’s not why it made the top 10 list.

It’s not how it looks now, but where it started and more importantly? What I found inside the drawers when I bought it.

Which just proves that behind every yard sale find is a really good story.

5. This vintage crate

This yard sale crate made the top 10 list for two reasons.

I’ve never found a coffee crate this size ever again.

But more importantly?

I love what we turned it into all those years ago.

You can see the entire coffee crate project here.

4. this farmhouse table

This vintage table made the yard sale all-time best list because of the story behind it.

I’ve told this story to more people than I can count.

It still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Here’s the tale of the perfect negotiation.

3. this yard sale hutch

This used to be my favorite yard sale find of all time.

Yep.

Number one.

But that was five years ago, and like all good top ten songs, it got replaced.

Here’s the story behind the hutch and all the colors it’s been painted.

2. This yard sale find

Sometimes when I go yard sale shopping, something shows up that I never expected. If I had made a zillion lists on a zillion pieces of paper, I would never have written this item down.

Something so wonderful and amazing that it makes me toss all those lists out the window.

Something like this.

Can you guess what it is?

If you guessed this—you’d be right.

1. What I discovered inside this dresser

This dresser looks like number one.

It could be.

It’s an amazing pine dresser I found at a yard sale for only $25. When I found it, I was so excited and I handed over my money and we were about to load it into the car when I opened the top drawer.

Wait a minute.

That sounded a little lame.

It wasn’t dramatic enough.

Let me recreate it for you.

Here’s the drawer.

Picture me slowly opening it to lift it into the car.

And then?

Inside?

THE NUMBER ONE FAVORITE YARD SALE FIND OF ALL TIME HERE.

Proving once and for all.

There’s no find like a yard sale find.

Happy shopping. 🙂

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