Up to 75% off Antiques, Furniture at Estate Treasures Tent Sale; Now Through October 19th

I must confess that I have contemporary taste when it comes to decorating.  But I don’t mind a few interesting, eclectic pieces here and there, which makes shopping at Estate Treasures at 1162 E. Putnam Ave. in Riverside a fruitful, if somewhat ambitious, endeavor.  The shop seems small from the outside, but is a warren of rooms jam-packed with an impressive amount of household goods – so much stuff, in fact, that you almost need a guide to navigate the place. Congenial owner, Harriet Roughan,  is eager to comply.  Harriet LOVES what she’s been doing for over 30 years – making matches between people and, well, treasures –and does it with a keen eye towards the customer’s taste and budget. I was smitten by a lovely burnished-gold-finish porcelain coffee service for 8 complete with eight delightful cups and saucers, a coffee pot, creamer and sugar bowl ($120) as well as a 60 inch round expandable mahogany and teak Theodore Alexander table, that, with a series of pie-shaped leaves, opens up to a generous 84″ (was $10,995 now $8796). The coffee service was well within Cheap-Chick budget, the wonderful table, not so much.  However, I  nearly walked away with a $90 ceramic Phrenology head, perfect for the desk of, say, a cranial massage therapist.  It was oh, so cool and I could tell, appealed greatly to Harriet’s whimsical side. For the longest time, I believed Estate Treasures to be as stuffy as the upholstered furniture that takes up a good deal of one back room.  I now know that that is far from true.  I might just have to return soon for that ceramic Phrenology bust.