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Arts & Entertainment

Oakdale Woman Shares her Knack for Garage Sale Chic

Jeanne Linell documents her finds and home decor projects on her blog, Bees Knees Bungalow.

Oakdale’s own Jeanne Linell is a garage sale-ing, craft making, house renovating superstar. Her blog, Bees Knees Bungalow, documents the finds she scores at area sales, as well as the fabulous home décor projects she creates with her goodies and elbow grease; all this while also working full-time, and being a wife and mother to four kids, ages 8, 12, 14 and 16.

Oakdale Patch reporter Michelle Leon had a chance to sit down with Linell and learn more about her creative skills and pursuits.

Oakdale Patch: How do you tackle garage sales?

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Jeanne Linell: There are lots of citywide sales, where the whole neighborhood has a sale at the same time, and those are what we focus on. We don’t really go sign-to-sign.

It’s weird, things go in cycles. One weekend there was picture frames everywhere, or we’d see pumpkins … the last time we were out, we saw lots of  fondue pots. So we thought, “We need to have a fondue party!” By the end of the day we had planned a big fondue party.

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Oakdale Patch: What was your best ever score?

Linell: That was a free chandelier. I wrote a blog about it.

Oakdale Patch: Is there an item that you have always wanted yet have never found.

Linell: A Wedgewood Stove. That is what I really want. We do have an old stove found free at Twincitiesfreemarket.org. That is where you can find free appliances, free everything. You just put it on the curb and people come get it. We got our ‘50s Tappan stove there.

Oakdale Patch: The things you do with recycling and reuse are so timely.

Linell: It’s so cool to show your friends what you’ve made. Sometimes when I tell people I’m going garage sale-ing, they think that’s gross, but then they come to my house and see how I’ve used the pieces, and I get to say, “Yeah, that was 50 cents.” And it’s this fantastic thing made out of nothing special.

Oakdale Patch: What led to you starting the blog last October?

Linell: My friends and I would be at garage sales, and so many funny, goofball things would happen, and we’d think, “That would be so great to write about!” I really needed the creative outlet. People from everywhere can read the blog, and it’s not like a magazine; Decorating magazines are really intimidating because the pictures are totally staged, and everything is so perfect. With a blog the majority of the writers are just normal people, taking their own photos, and sharing their own tips.

Oakdale Patch: Real personality shines through.

Linell: And I enjoy the freedom of it. It’s all my own creation and I can stop whenever I want to. I really like the instant gratification of communicating with people who are doing, or want to do similar things as I’m doing.

Oakdale Patch: What a great outlet.

Linell: I know; I am so proud of me! It’s not work, the time just goes by, and it’s not an effort at all.

The creative part is something that comes naturally, and people are really responding. I did a blog about painting my stairs which was very popular. And it’s fun: I just got an old chair over the weekend, and now I have a fairy garden.

Oakdale Patch: For everyone I know, this type of creativity has come from necessity. If you really want cool stuff, and don’t have much money, you have to put in that effort.

Linell: It’s not that I don’t like nice new things, because if I could go shop at Pottery Barn, I would be there—the first one in line. It does come from necessity. But still, I like finding Pottery Barn things for a quarter. I don’t want Walmart things for a quarter.

Oakdale Patch: But you have a creative gift, those things don’t come naturally to everyone.

Linell: People think that this is something they can’t do. They ask, “How do make stuff so cute? I want to say, 'You can do it!’ Many people just can’t see the finished product in their mind. Or they just don’t want to do it themselves.

Oakdale Patch: So it’s all in the perception.

Linell: I get asked, “How did you paint your wall like that? I could never be that creative.” Well, you have paint brushes, right? Then you can do it, because if you paint your wall it will look just like that. These things are doable. You don’t need to have a design team, just do it

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