Garage Sale Series-Displays

Garage sales are such a blessing... a lot of work, but they can be such a help also.  It feels great to sort and get rid of stuff no longer needed... and to bring in some cash from the stuff.

Setting up displays can help with that. Displays can be simple or more complex.  I would say that price tags are even more important than displays...
Garage Sale Series-Price Tags

 Displays can be a big help; however. It is good to group like things together as a simple display... housewares together, office items in a certain area, tools together, clothes and shoes together, etc.

Grouping things together can help your customers shop. It becomes confusing to find everything all jumbled in boxes, with no order. If you are in a serious time crunch though, and NEED to sell things and have good prices, boxes of stuff all over can work...  but some people will not be willing to go through a lot of stuff to find the treasure they want...  Displays can help that.

Putting jewelry together works well...  I find that people love to look through the jewelry.  The display can be simple... all together on a table or in a tin or small box... or more complicated.

With selling jewelry, I find that I have to straighten up the table often... to keep it looking fresh and interesting. 

Here, some jewelry is in baskets, some on the table. We had it all stretched out over the table at first.. but it looked too overwhelming, so we put some in the pretty baskets and then put a lot on the table. It was much easier to look at and then as we sold jewelry, we put more out on the table.

 It isn't always possible to keep everything totally in groupings... and that's fine. It is a garage sale and some disorder is very reasonable and a miscellaneous table (or two or three) is great....  as long as the whole sale is not just a jumbled mess of stuff.










By the way, this is the way we did our garage sale this year, but it isn't always like this. In fact, I try to make things different every year, in some way and we have many people who say they love to come to see how I decorated... and they are also buying things. :)

TIP:  If there is an uneven surface that is a possible trip hazard, point it out in some way. You can see in this picture that the entrance to the garage has a strip of yellow duct tape and also a strip of red. We put those there to draw attention to the step up. We sure don't want to have anyone get hurt... and when people are shopping, they are not always looking carefully at where they are stepping.

Shelves can be made... and here we used cans of paint to hold up sturdy shelves. Just be sure they are not precarious... you don't want any accidents. 

There is a clear walkway through the garage sale... and displays along both sides. 

It is amazing how much can be stuffed into a garage for a Garage Sale. :)  It is a challenge to fit a lot in but to still make things accessible and interesting. We were determined to fit a lot into the garage this year, since there has been so much rain and we needed to do the sale this week... rain or no rain.

TIP Be sure walkways are adequate... it is no fun to have to squeeze through tight areas to see things... and it can be dangerous also. The walkways are just as important as the displays... actually, they are even MORE important.

We had an armoire for sale, so I fixed it into a display for some ladies undergarments I had to sell. This kept them from being too visible.. they are behind the lace curtain... and yet ladies could shop if they wanted to. There was a mirror at the back(inside the cabinet) and a little lamp. I put some tension curtain rods inside to hold the garments... and others to hold the curtains. This was a new thing for us to try.. not sure if we will do it again. Of course, we don't usually have an armoire to sell either. :)  It was a very pretty and feminine addition for this year though.

 This area isn't totally set up here... see all of the empty places?

Using this table and the boards underneath gave extra display room. By the way, those plastic containers sold fast... 

 We try to keep the walkways very open and hazard-free. Things are cluttered because there is a lot of stuff, but we try to keep it a controlled clutter.   :)

 This little cafe corner was fun... I had 2 wood doors that we hinged together and used as a folding screen. The doors were for sale.  Lace behind the doors, helped to hide the stuff back there... and it looked nice. We were selling 5 lace valances, so we put 2 of them on a curtain rod and put it over this door. The chairs were for sale... and the table displayed items for sale.  We did change this... we turned the table the 2nd day... and added crystal items to the table.

 The linens looked nice on these shelves... and it really helped that everything didn't have to be just piled high on a small table.  you can see that I am using totes for the support under the shelves for this display. I tend to use what we have on hand.

 Almost everything you see if for sale... we try to cover over most of the stuff that isn't for sale.

It is amazing how garage sale items can be used to decorate and make things look more interesting. For example, in the picture above, you can see that doilies and cloths are for sale and are priced, but they are also making things look just a little nicer.

 The little table beside the bookcase ended up having pots and pans on it... it worked out very well. The table is one from our kitchen... and there is a similar white table from the dining room that we used out here.

Plastic table cloths can cover up wall items... we hang them with clothespins. In a couple of the pictures, you can see where we used an old lace tablecloth as a backdrop for a Shabby Chic Corner.  It helped to change the whole look. Simple... and it was for sale too... but appealing. :)  We use fabric, tablecloths, sheets, shower curtains and other items for table cloths.... I like to use either plain ones or ones that are not too busy, as that would make things look too cluttered when the table is loaded with items for sale.

 Hanging clothes up makes it easier to shop. We had a couple of racks of hanging clothes this year.

 The displays can look "tired" quite quickly and I go through the sale tidying and rearranging often. It is especially important to fill in any holes.. that bare spot can say to the person "You missed out on something good." That's not what I want to say to them... I want them to see and be interested in all of the good stuff that is still left. :)  It's not fun to shop if things look all picked over.

We sometimes rearrange whole sections... and if things aren't selling in one area, I will re-design it so that they do.

It is amazing how often things sell right after I have gone through to re-order a table. It really helps to keep your sale fresh.

Does every garage sale have to be big and with specific displays?  NO! If all you have is boxes, you can still have a great sale... maybe put like things together in the boxes... maybe put the boxes up on a bench... or on top of an empty box... so people can see thing easier. Be sure prices are easy to see ... whether on the items, on the table or box... or on a sign.

This was a BIG garage sale... and it went well.  I am very glad it is done, though... it is a lot of work and we are tired. I do not plan out displays ahead of time since the displays will depend on what I am selling...  I do bring out some book ends, stands, tables and bookshelves that are not for sale, but almost everything else out there is for sale. This means that as things sell, we have to change things, but that is what makes it interesting.

We hear many comments on how pretty things are, that this is like a boutique, that it is beautiful, etc.  I did tell my family this year, "Some people have a garage sale, we open a store!!! "   It does feel that way, sometimes...   and we had a LOT more displays this year than usual.  We were open for 5 days in a row!!!  Like I said, we are glad to be done...and we are tired!

Maybe you can only have one display... that is GREAT! Don't feel discouraged ... use what you have and use the talents God has given to you...  and be friendly, play some background music.. and enjoy meeting your customers and selling things.  Have you had a sale this year?  Are you planning to?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.... and I hope you will join me for more of The Garage Sale Series.  Have a great week.  :)


Garage Sale Series
Garage Sale Series-Selling Jewelry 

Garage Sale Series-Price Tags

Garage Sale Series-Displays




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