The Grandmacore Shopping List: Everything You're Looking for Is at an Estate Sale (And We Mean Everything)

Look for:

• Wingback or floral parlor chairs — even with worn upholstery, the bones are the prize. $40–$200. A reupholster job in the right fabric is $300–$500 and gives you a $1,400 chair.
• Crochet afghans and granny-square throws — drape them over the chair's arm. Authentic ones run $15–$45; never pay more.
• Needlepoint pillows — flowers, animals, sayings, anything stitched by hand. $8–$25 each. Buy three at a time.
• Brass or silver-plate candlesticks — buy them in pairs and trios, mismatched intentionally. $5–$20 per stick.
• Ornate gilt mirrors — the curvier the frame, the better. $25–$120. Hang them slightly crooked. Your feed will thank you.
• Doilies, runners, and antimacassars — the lace squares that go over the back of a chair. They're called antimacassars. Knowing the name will save you $20 because most sellers don't.

Look for:

• Bone china teacups with saucers, sold individually — Royal Albert "Old Country Roses," Spode "Christmas Tree," Wedgwood, Limoges, Noritake. Don't buy a full set; buy four mismatched cups and saucers. Soft pinks and greens photograph best. $4–$15 each.
• Embroidered linen tablecloths and napkins — hand-stitched, often with a year or initials in the corner. $10–$40 for a tablecloth, $2–$5 per napkin. Avoid anything yellowed permanently; a soak in oxygen bleach handles light yellowing.
• Cut-glass or pressed-glass dessert plates — $1–$3 each. Stack them in tens.
• Silver-plate flatware in mismatched patterns — by the piece, $0.50–$2. By the set, $40–$120.
• Decorative china plates for hanging — the ones with the wire hanger built in. $3–$10. Cluster six on a wall.
• Cake stands, glass cloches, and footed trifle bowls — these are the things grandmacore shoppers fight over. Get there at 8 a.m. $8–$35.

Look for:

• Embroidered pillowcases — in pairs, with crocheted edges. $8–$20 a pair.
• Quilts — handmade quilts from the 1940s–70s are the holy grail. Wedding ring, log cabin, and double Irish chain patterns are the classics. $40–$200; if it's truly hand-quilted (run your finger along the stitches; they should be slightly irregular), it's worth the top of that range.
• Vanity sets — silver-handled hairbrush, hand mirror, and comb in a tray. $25–$85 for the set.
• Cut-glass perfume bottles — mid-century atomizers, Czech crystal, vintage Avon. $4–$30 each. Cluster five on a tray.
• Porcelain figurines — Lefton, Hummel, Lladro. Pick one or two with personality, not a shelf full. $5–$45.
• Painted wooden jewelry boxes — usually $8–$25, often with rhinestone costume jewelry still inside (a small bonus).

Look for:

• Pyrex bowls in pastel patterns — pink Gooseberry, Friendship, Spring Blossom Green. Mixing bowl sets are still findable for $20–$80; rare patterns hit $300+. Photograph the pattern, check it.
• Vintage tea towels — embroidered with days of the week. $2–$6. Buy a stack.
• Enamelware — cream colored with a red rim, especially. Pitchers, plates, basins. $8–$30.
• Wicker picnic baskets and hampers — $15–$40. They double as decor and storage.
• Cookbooks from the 1940s–70s — community-printed church cookbooks are pure grandmacore. $1–$5.

Look for:

• Wicker — chairs, planters, baskets, even old picnic hampers. The paint can be touched up with a $4 spray can. $10–$60 per piece.
• Terra cotta pots, the older the better — $1–$5 each.
• Ironstone bird baths or concrete planters — heavy, awkward, often half the price they should be because nobody wants to load them. $20–$80.
• Hand-painted garden signs and old metal watering cans — $5–$20.