I had the perfect Christmas present this year and it was free, the perfect pink dream! My dream opens with me winning the lottery.
Not a million dollar lottery, it was way, way under that, but I was so excited. I called my mother, I screamed, she screamed, I called my friend Brenda, she screamed, I screamed, then I call my friend Charlene, she screamed, well you get the idea. Then in my dream I already have the check in my purse and I'm driving by an old house where an elderly man is putting a small sign in the front yard that says, "ESTATE SALE." The house is a white cottage with a white picket fence and a garden gate with climbing pink roses covering the arch that leads to the stone path to the front door.
I jump out of my car and say hello and tell him how much I love being the first one in line at an Estate Sale. He laughs and tells me it's just a bunch of old things probably no one would want but he thought he'd try. He held the gate open for me and now I can really see now how charming the small white hose is. He held open the screen door and I walked into my dream house/studio. The furnishings are all 1950's, white couch with pink pillows, poodle lamps and and beautiful hard wood floors. He leads me into the kitchen where I almost faint from the sight of the cutest 1950's kitchen you've ever dreamed of.
Pink stove, countertops, pink fridge and an old pink kitchenmaid mixer sitting on the counter. There's an old pink rotary phone on the wall and next to that, in perfect condition a 1950's pink kitchen table with matching chairs, seating for 8. The room begins to spin and I tell him I want everything pink in the kitchen down to the pink cups in the cabinet. He looks at me like I'm from Mars, then laughs and says, "you're of of those girls that loves pink huh? Well follow me." He then shows me the pink tiled bathroom, pink tub and toilet, and then shows me the first two bedrooms, all filled with kitchy 50's poodles and old fashioned bed spreads, one had a pink peacock bedspread! Then he says that his wife has never got rid of anything so brace myself, she's turned the master bedroom into her closets, this one holds all the old stuff. He opens the door and the first racks I see are of beautiful 1950's crinoline formals with matching petticoats, gloves and shoes.
He says to me "Those were from her early years when she was always the belle of the ball." Then out of the corner of my eye I see racks of clothes all zipped up in bags with faded labels, Christian Dior and Chanel.
He sees my wide eyed expression and says "Oh yea, she went to Paris every season and would order her wardrobe for the next social season. The designers loved her, she was a curvy woman, back then she was about, oh... about your size." I'm feeling faint and I almost whisper,"are they for sale?"
"Heavens yes, everything including the house are for sale. Even her old cadi is for sale. Say, you might want to take a look at that too, it's pink too!" He laughs like I'd never consider such a thing but I laugh right along with him as he leads me to the garage.
He throws back the cover on the car and there sits, in perfect condition a pink and white 1956 special edition model Cadiliac. Special edition because it had white leather seats with the letter "C" monogramed onto the seats and headrests. "Her friends called her Coco because she wears so much Chanel." OK now my head is really spinning, but we head back inside and he says he wants to show me the sun porch where Coco and her sewing buddies had a quilting circle. There sat this huge bright room with large white tables and chairs."I saved all her fabrics, it's all upstairs in the attic with everything left from the bridal shop her family owned for thirty years. "Bridal shop?" I squeak. "Oh yes, all kinds of old stuff, trunks full of lace and stuff.
Her mother was from Ireland so they made the fancy wedding dresses, the kind with Irish lace. There's even a big barrel of pearl buttons from England up there. Too heavy to move so I just left it all. There's even a bunch of boxes of old bridal pictures of all their brides. They always took a photo of the bride in her dress so they could make sure no one dress would be like another. Probley' hundreds of them. Say,... you're looking a little pale, can I get you a glass of water? We keep this old fridge out here I think we have some bottled water in there I keep for the gardner."
So he walks to the second pink fridge that I've seen in this house and brings me something to drink. He then begins to tell me how this house was really the gardner's house, and the house they lived in is up the hill, "it's for sale too. Just too big for the two of us, we're moving to the Towers downtown where we'll never have to cook another meal and they'll take care of all the yard work.HA! We want to have some more adventures before we leave this earth so we're downsizing. It's a pier and beam house so who ever buys it could move it I 'suppose.'" I ask,"Oh but where would I move it? Gee I wish I could buy it but i don't have a lot or any land?" He scratches his head, looks at me kinda funny and says,
"Well I do have an acre but there's an old carriage house the historical society won't let me tear down, I can't sell the land to anyone because the trees and the carriage house is so big the house would have to be pretty small to fit on the plot. I bought the lot thinking it was just an investment and a good location, from what you you tell me, not far from where you live. The problem is you'd have to leave the carriage house as is and let the historical society have their annual Christmas party and rummage sale there once a year." He laughs an even heartier laugh now, shakes his head and says, "Well just look around and tell me what you want and we'll settle on a price. Take your time, there's a lot of old stuff and the attic and garage are full." I turn to him and say, "How much for all of it?" He turns with a look of half concern and glee and says....."ALL OF IT? You mean the house and car too? Everything?" Now he looks like he could use a bottle of water.
He said he knew of a man who could move the house and a mechanic who could make sure the car was up and running, now he was babbling." I proceed to tell him about my lottery check and how this house would be perfect to have workshops in and just to have as my special studio only miles from my house, if he was willing to let me buy the land with the carriage house on it. Well he starting talking about tax exceptions with it being a historical landmark, and how we could have it all appraised when I pulled out my check and said, "cash." The deal was made by the garden gate covered in pink roses. Now the hard part.......... I had to go home and tell hubby what I just bought at an estate sale!
