For many years I've lived in a condo then a townhouse where people are constantly downsizing, sometimes after they've moved in and found they can't fit everything into the smaller place. I've done the same, put out useful items in my turn. You use something for a while, then put it out for the next user.
After the lampstand find, probably the only item I've allowed into the house since the Great Winnowing, I thought it would be fun to see various bits of furniture I've acquired via dumpster or streetside.
Starting in the loft, here's the piece of finished pine I've used over thirty years as a dining table top, a bed head, and most recently as an art worktop. It might be a bedhead again, since my platform bed doesn't have one.
And a heavy glass slab I used for many years as a printmaking top
One of two folding chairs
Storage units spare room art supplies and musical instruments
Spare bedroom table
High stool, one of two, used in the studio and as plant stands. Or bedside tables. The rug it's standing near, too, come to think of it
Display shelves, lovely old wood
Coffee table, oak, mission style, porcelain drawer pulls, dovetailed drawers
Fred's chair
Sofa table, craftsman made, hand rubbed and wax finished drawer pull. I know all this because it turned out a friend, woodworker and contractor, had made it. He put it out in the hope of a good home, and was very pleased when he saw it in my living room. Always wanted a table behind a sofa as a room divider. It also works for seasonal decoration, and a spare serving surface for holiday food, the dining table being just to the right of it.
Patio chair you've often seen, from neighboring development renovating pool area and replacing perfectly good lounge chairs. There were two, I gave one away.
I've never bought patio furniture. At the end of the season I'd usually put out my old pieces and drive around to find newer ones.
I think it's good to have custody of things for a while then pass them on in turn. It's just stuff, enjoy but attachment isn't required. Around here, anyway. I've found and passed on a lot of items to good homes. It's good for the planet, too, not to buy new very often.
One man's junk...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful finds.
wow, that's quite a haul!
ReplyDeleteThe same process is common here as well. Our daughter’s front steps and platform came down in two pieces when she had a new one built. The old pieces disappeared when put curb side. What a great way to recycle!
ReplyDeleteI think the only two items of brand new straight from the store furniture in my house are my sofa and my bed.
ReplyDeleteSame here. And they were from discount places.
DeleteGood haul! You're lucky to have found such nice things.
ReplyDeleteNice to know someone else does the same as do I! My misc things get passed along to other family members - seems to work for all of us!
ReplyDeleteThere was a loveseat that moved between my son's apartment and mine several times before it fell apart. At different times one or other needed it.
DeleteWhat great finds! The laundry room in our building often has 'great finds' placed out on the folding table for anyone to take. Resident Chef once snagged about a dozen really good quality tea towels that several years later are still as good as new. Sadly the assistant super checks regularly and takes anything he thinks he can sell. Not a bad thing I guess, but I often wonder what the rest of us are missing out on! Either way, it's getting re-used and that's the main thing.
ReplyDeleteAround here, finds in empty apartments and laundry rooms etc, are considered a perk for the super. Likewise items at the dumpster for the garbage men. If they're quick enough!
DeleteI really enjoyed the tour, Liz. There are some real beauties, and inspiration here. We, too, have been the happy recipients of others' hand-me-downs. And over the years have enjoyed watching others bring new life to things we either didn't want, or couldn't re-imagine. Here, anything put out at the curb (that's not obvious trash) we sometimes watch with anticipation for its absence before trash pick-up, hoping that someone sees potential in something we were done with. Being in active "getting rid of" mode at the moment, I'm also in constant hope that the useful things we're parting with are found and repurposed by others. It will, hopefully, make you smile to know that I've recently been sorting through crafting supplies and I've often thought "Liz or Mary Anne (Magpie above) would come up with the perfect use for this odd little thing or scrap that sometimes gets tossed". And the things that are more significant, I imagine you two being pleased that they are being passed along for some other creative soul who has the time and inclination to make something of things I just can't muster (or be slowed down for) right now. You're constantly an inspiration to me.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get into plants, most of which I either accepted from another home, like the dracaena, or from the dumpster, like the dieffenbachia, or from cuttings. I've given away a lot of plants I started. And plant related equipment.
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