I am so thrilled to bring you this wonderful home tour of Elizabeth Cook’s new home in Atlanta. If you remember from her last home tour (here), Elizabeth is an expert at curating estate sale and thrift finds to create a joyful and charming home for her young family. I have had the pleasure of knowing Elizabeth since our days at SMU and can’t be more in awe of her shopping savvy and creative mindset.
Be sure to scroll to the end of the post, as Elizabeth generously shares her paint colors, plus estate sale tips and tricks! Follow Elizabeth on instagram, as she will occasionally share sales and auctions you won’t want to miss! follow here.
past tour is linked
the tour:





WALL COLORS:
– The entry walls are painted in Farrow & Ball; Ball Pointing and are hand-painted by Emmie Ruth Wise
– The shutter color, door color, and dining room wall paint color is: Farrow & Ball Vert de Terre
– The trim paint color throughout the home is: Farrow & Ball Pointing (semi-gloss)
– The kitchen wall color is: Farrow & Ball Kittiwake
– The upstairs guest room is painted in: Ben Moore Healing Aloe
– My son’s room is painted in: Farrow & Ball Cook’s Blue
– My daughter’s room is painted in: Farrow &Ball pink ground / borrowed light on the ceiling
– The downstairs playroom is painted in: Yeabridge Green / pointing on the walls
FROM ELIZABETH
we are SO grateful and thankful for her shopping savvy and her willingness to share her tips with us!
Estate sales and thrift store tips:
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Download the EstateSales.net app to your phone. Input the best zip code in your city to be aware of what sales are happening when and where. The majority of sales are posted on Tuesday and start on Thursday.
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While some may suggest to go on the first day to a physical estate sale to get the “best stuff”, I personally prefer to go on the last day to get the best deals. Often times the items I am most interested in are still there and I have a lot more negotiation power. One of the many benefits of being #offtrend.
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There is a total hierarchy for antiques and consignments. Beware of seeing “consignment”furniture on a storefront and thinking you are getting a deal. You are most likely seeing merchandise that has been purchased from an estate sale or auction house and then resold to the store buyer potentially even going through additional middle men to end up at that location.
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Brick & mortar thrift stores attached to a church or non-profit will have better deals. Period. The generous individuals that donate product are not looking for a consigner check; therefore, the store has more flexibility on price and can negotiate as they wish. A few great thrift stores attached to charities include, but are not limited to: Housing Works in NYC, which benefits Aids research; The Church Mouse at Palm Beach, benefitting The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea; and, the Assistance League of Houston, which benefits multiple local charities.
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Shop Geographically Smart. As a general rule of thumb, thrift stores in areas of higher net-worths will have nicer items. This is not always always the case but if your time is tight, I would recommend swinging by stores in select cities and around neighborhoods that are in nicer areas. Thrift stores located in cities where second or third vacation homes are common are probably not as interested in making a profit off of their furniture. They most likely also invested in a high-end decorator when originally designing their home and those items can now seen at their local thrift store. This is a double win for you. Additional insider tip: Kofski’s estate sales in Palm Beach occur only in-season and are full-fledged fire sales from full mansions on the island.
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I should go in looking for select pieces and sometimes I do, but I often buy pieces that I love with unique backstories that are more accessibily priced. When I do this, I tend to find a place for it over time!
Auction tips:
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Download the LiveAuctioneers app and head straight to the site on your browser to create an account. For reference, Live Auctioneers is the leading curator of estate sales and auctions around the world. There are other similar online sources such as Invaluable and BidSquare but I personally prefer LiveAuctioneers.
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Use the “find auctions” drop down to find sales near you. It is helpful to know about those around you for two reasons: you will have the ability to “preview” the sites up for sale if you choose and you can escape any cross-country moving expenses.
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Beware of the attached fees. Another fee to know about is the & buyer&# 39;s premium,&; which is essentially a cut that goes to the house (to, you know, pay their employees). Twenty-five to 30 percent is pretty standard, but calculate that out before you set your top bid.
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If an item “passes” at an auction, ask the sale coordinator if you are able to bid post-sale on that item. Dependent on the agreement with the seller, the majority of items are yours for half off the original starting price post-sale.
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UShip and Bunjii are great resources to connect with third-party shippers across the country!