The Canberra Times is looking for garage salers...

"Dear I op therefore I ammers, 

I hope this email finds you well. 

I am writing from the news desk at The Canberra Times. Currently, I’m researching a story on garage sales in the ACT. We’re looking to do a small article on the community surrounding garage sales and are particularly interested in chatting to people who are regular garage sale devotees. 

I’m contacting you in the hope of finding someone who would be interested in talking about their interest as well as garage sales in the ACT in terms of whether they are becoming a trend off the back of the trend towards reusing and recycling."

(If you're interested in being part of this story please email I Op Therefore I Am and we'll supply you with contact details...)

Salvonista - Saturday 20 October

Salovinsta mobile boutique will be in Canberra this weekend:

Saturday 20 October
10am - 5pm
Gungahlin Place, Gungahlin

Check out Salvonista for more details.

Mitchell Tin

I picked up a great pressed metal cake tin at Tinys Green Shed in Mitchell today. Complete with paper towel and cake crumbs inside, it is now going to house my sewing thread.

Garage Sale at Saint Davids Red Hill. 22nd September 2012. 9am-1pm. Clothes, bric a brac, books, linen, small furniture.

Inspiration for op shoppers everywhere

A friend sent me the following link this week:

Flea market find: A Renoir for $7

I guess we'll all be at Trash and Treasure tomorrow morning, rummaging hopefully!

Massive clearance at Tuggeranong Vinnies

Head down to Tuggeranong Vinnies this weekend for the crazy weekend sale.

This weekend, Tuggeranong Vinnies is celebrating its 23rd birthday with a massive sale.  Running over Friday 24th – Sunday 26th August, the sale will raise much needed funds to continue our good works.  As usual, our volunteers have been the backbone of the event.

Run along the same lines as the very successful Monster Warehouse Sales held at our Mitchell Distribution Centre, the Tuggeranong Vinnies Birthday Sale is an opportunity for us to have a massive clearance of stock.  The sales help convert donated items into much-needed cash for the support of our clients.

For more details go to <http://forms.vinnies.org.au/blog/massive-clearance-at-tuggeranong-vinnies-with-volunteer-help/>

Seek and Find

Not sure if this is a new 'oppportunity' or not... but the Seek and Find op-shop is open in Kambah - with what appears to be a very 'limited' time slot to visit.

Tharwa Antiques and Collectibles

Back in March we received an email from Yvette, who said:

"I'm a regular reader of act-opshopping and I wondered if you had Tharwa Antiques and Collectibles on your radar.  I live in Banks, only a few minutes away and I only heard about it a few months ago!  I went there last week for the first time and it was a treasure trove!  As well as antique and retro stuff they had lots of op shoppy type things too.  Haberdashery, linen, books, dolls clothes, kitchenware.  Some were op shop prices, others were antique store prices."

With a trip to Jindabyne planned for my birthday my friend and I decided to take a slight detour for lunch at Lanyon Homestead and a visit to Tharwa Antiques and Collectibles afterwards.


The building is certainly enchanting for these Canberra-based eyes:

(and the room of buttons kept us rapt for far longer than we'd planned): 

 But we could see what Yvette meant by antique store prices...

We decided it was well worth a visit while we were in the area, but not somewhere we would visit specifically.


Especially as the owner has a stall in one of the antique centres in Canberra (I have a pamphlet. Somewhere. I will add details when I find it!)

Salvos Weston reopens

Saturday 16th June at 9am.

Hobnobbing with the boss

We need a dining table. How can I be a proppah wifey if I can't invite my husband's boss over for Coq au Vin and Bombe Alaska?

I've been looking for some of these since moving into our new place. We have two that I found in an ope shope when we first arrived in Canberra at the kitchen table.

That's our kitchen table. In very bad lighting. (I have a new camera and am still learning to drive.)

I found the four Hobnobs at the tip shop for $15! They have a different base to the kitchen chairs, but we can live with that.

I'm really after one of these.

image via

And I'm blithely optimistic that I will find one. I'd accept a white one. Or, and most probably, a Sebel rip off. Or just a round table. Or an oval table. See? I'm not that particular. Wish me luck.

image via

Saskia helped me clean the new chairs. (And I have a new camera! I mentioned that already...)

Dining chairs you can hose down!! Our dinner parties can get pretty crayayzeeee.

Now I just need to wash that table.

'Wass huns.'

Playing along with Sophie.